Legal Aid NSW Annual Report 2002-2003

Legal Aid Com

mission of N

SWAnnual R

eport 2002–2003

NSW Offices

Head OfficeGround Floor, 323 Castlereagh Street Sydney NSW 2000Tel: 9219 5000 Fax: 9219 5935TTY: 9219 5037

BankstownCivic Tower, Level 4Cnr Rickard Rd & Jacobs St Bankstown2200Tel: 9707 4555 Fax: 9708 6505

BlacktownLevel 3, 85 Flushcombe RoadBlacktown 2148Tel: 9621 4800 Fax: 9831 5597

BurwoodLevel 4, 74-76 Burwood RoadBurwood 2134Tel: 9747 6155 Fax: 9744 6936TTY: 9745 4277

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Dubbo64 Talbragar Street, Dubbo 2830Tel: 6885 4233 Fax: 6885 4240

FairfieldLevel 2, Fairfield Chase, 25 Smart Street, Fairfield 2165Tel: 9727 3777 Fax: 9724 7605

GosfordLevel 2, 37 William Street, Gosford 2250Tel: 4324 5611 TTY Fax: 4324 3503

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ManlySuite 6, Level 4, 39 East EsplanadeManly 2095Tel: 9977 1479 Fax: 9977 3357

Newcastle51–57 Bolton Street, Newcastle 2300Tel: 4929 5482 Fax: 4929 3347TTY: 4929 4036Newcastle Civil Law Centre300 King Street, Newcastle 2300Tel: 4921 8666 Fax: 4921 8866

Nowra 61 Kinghorne Street, Nowra 2541Tel: 4422 4351 Fax: 4422 4340

Orange121 Byng Street, Orange 2800Tel: 6362 8022 TTY Fax: 6361 3983

ParramattaLevel 5, 91 Phillip Street, Parramatta 2150Tel: 9891 1600 Fax: 9689 1082TTY: 9891 5692

PenrithGround Floor, 95 Henry StreetPenrith 2750Tel: 4732 3077 Fax: 4721 0572

SutherlandGround Floor, 3-5 Stapleton AvenueSutherland 2232Tel: 9521 3733 Fax: 9521 8933

TamworthLevel 2, Mercantile Mutual Building454-456 Peel Street, Tamworth 2340Tel: 6766 6322 TTY Fax: 6766 8303

Wagga WaggaGround Floor, 235-241 Baylis StreetWagga Wagga 2650Tel: 6921 6588 TTY Fax: 6921 7106

WollongongGround Floor, 73 Church StreetWollongong 2500Tel: 4228 8299 TTY Fax: 4229 4027

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Legal Aid Offices Outreach Services

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call LawAccess NSW on 1300 888 529

for advice

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1,000 copies of this report were printed by Elect Printing.

The estimated cost per copy is $11.50.

Produced by the Community Education and Publications Unit.

Project Manager: Garry Somerville; Editorial: Miranda Jakich;

Design and production: Marta Madison; Photography:

Penny Clay, unless otherwise indicated.

This report is also available on the Legal Aid website:

www.legalaid.nsw.gov.au email: [email protected]

ISSN 0819-2952

L E G A L A I D C O M M I S S I O N O F N S W

ANNUAL REPORT 2 0 0 2 – 2 0 0 3

23227 LegalAid Cover 1/12/03 5:51 PM Page 1

Legal Aid NSW

T

Our missionTo deliver a range of innovative,high quality legal services to ourclients to assist them to resolvetheir legal problems.

Our valuesClient Focus, Integrity,Professionalism, Efficiency, Equity.

Our visionTo ensure that economically andsocially disadvantaged people canunderstand, protect and enforcetheir legal rights and interests.

he Commission is established underthe Legal Aid Commission Act 1979 toimprove access to justice by providing a range of legal services to socially andeconomically disadvantaged people. We are an independent statutory body,employing 634 full time equivalentstaff around NSW. Our operatingexpenses totalled $129.863m and wereceived $126.964m revenue, mainlyfrom State and CommonwealthGovernments.

In 2002–2003 we provided 360,749client services, which included representation, duty appearances, legal advice, information services andcommunity education through our headoffice, 20 regional offices andprivate practitioners.

We work in partnershipwith private practitionerswho provided representationto 40.9% of all legallyaided clients in NSWduring 2002–2003. Weoperate under the directionof one full-time and ninepart-time Board Memberswho determine our strategicpriorities. They areappointed by the AttorneyGeneral of NSW,the Hon Bob Debus MP.

C O N T E N T S

1 OverviewChairman’s Report,CEO’s Report, CorporatePlan, Summary ofServices, StatisticalOverview

12Our ClientsClient profile, clientinitiatives

14 Our PeopleEmployee information,staff achievements

16 Our OrganisationLegal divisions,programs and supportservices

32Our PartnersInter-agencypartnership initiatives

34 FinancialsFinancial Overview andFinancial Report

62 AppendicesIncludes Policies, FOI,Operational Statistics

Children’s lawyer Teresa O’Sullivan conferswith her client at Bidura Children’s Court in

Glebe. This year our Children’s LegalService represented 1,247 young people

in children’s courts around New SouthWales. See page 20 for more details about

legal services for young people.

The Legal Aid Commission provides legal aid services in NewSouth Wales. We are the largest legal aid agency in Australia

Legal Aid Commission NSW

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23227 LegalAid Cover 1/12/03 5:51 PM Page 2

Annual Report 2002–2003 1

Performance highlights in 2002–2003 This year, our main emphasis on improving services to people living inregional areas had very successful results

Our clientsEnsuring that more people across theState can have access to our services.

To promote equal access to justice forpeople wherever they live, we aredeveloping a cooperative approach to legalservice delivery involving the Commissionand other service providers.

We increased our outreach services topeople living in rural areas through arange of strategies and programs.

Family law advice and representationservices increased by over 25% after welocated new family lawyers in Dubbo,Gosford, Lismore and Tamworth as well asin a number of metropolitan offices.

We established a duty solicitor service atParramatta Family Court so unrepresentedclients can have assistance at court.

We opened a new family law outreachservice in Nowra to service the SouthCoast, in response to urgent communityneed.

Our organisationIntroducing new and efficient workpractices.

We rolled out video conferencing facilitiesto seven offices, enabling criminal lawyersto communicate with clients long distance,including in regional gaols.

We implemented the use of electronic briefsin criminal law, as part of the criminaljustice system trial.

Our peopleEnsuring our staff have access to bettertraining opportunities and input into theorganisation’s overall direction.

Over 93% of staff responded to acomprehensive staff survey which laid thefoundation for action plans that will increasetraining and work opportunities for all staff.

Staff training attendance increased by 270%after we introduced an exciting range of newtraining programs.

We developed a draft CommunicationImprovement Plan to improve ourcommunication with staff.

Our partnersImproving service delivery to our partnersand enhancing the way we work together.

40% of assigned family law applicationswere being received electronically by theend of the financial year.

In June 2003 1,248 electronic requestswere received (including 685 from privatelawyers), up from 286 requests (including102 from private lawyers) in June 2002,the first month electronic lodgementbecame fully operational.

Nearly 60% of electronic requests weredetermined within two days, comparedwith 22% of paper applications inassigned family law matters.

Wagga Wagga Legal Aid office signed anew Statement of Cooperation with theCoalition of Aboriginal Legal Services thatwill improve access to legal services forindigenous people.

Our inhouse staff provided agreater number of outreachservices across the State inboth civil and family law.

We improved services bybuilding on our partnershipswith other legal serviceproviders based on anIntegrated Service DeliveryPlan. The year also saw usconsult widely with staff onissues they identified asimportant to them.

The year was alsomarked by furthertechnological advances that are assisting us towork more efficiently.

� Enhancing the delivery of quality targeted family and civil law services across the State.� Implementing the Communication Improvement Plan so our staff are better informed.� Analysing results of the staff survey and identifying key areas for organisational improvement.� Establishing a career development and performance management system to enhance the

skills of our staff.� Providing managers with more relevant and reliable business information to facilitate the

making of more informed business decisions.� Implementing 50% of the accepted recommendations from the criminal law review.� Developing a comprehensive recruitment strategy to attract and multi-skill entry level staff.� Enhancing our links with government, the courts and partners in the justice system.� Establishing strategies to enable private practitioners to deliver a better service to legal aid

clients.

Areas identified as a priority focus in 2003–2004 include:

KE

Y I

MP

RO

VE

ME

NT

AR

EA

S

2 Legal Aid NSW

Summary of services by program

0 10,000 20,000 30,000 40,000 50,000 60,000 70,000 80,000

Civil Law Program

1,109

19,358

60,491

6,618

62

2

Assigned Representation

Inhouse Representation

Total Legal Representation

Assigned Duty Appearances

Inhouse Duty Appearances

Total Duty Appearances

Legal Advice

Information Services

Community Legal Education Sessions

Alternative Dispute Resolution

17,848

11,230

727

382

0 10,000 20,000 30,000 40,000 50,000

Family Law Program

11,545

1,389

24,165

42,338

3,792

190

1,410







Legal Advice




5,181

2,949

8,596

0 20,000 40,000 60,000 80,000 100,000

Criminal Law Program

40,604

44,881

20,833

29,098

42,909

137

10,181







Legal Advice



Under 18s HotLine Services

87,790

8,929

31,675

Criminal LawProgram

FacilitiesHead office and shared20 regional offices

Expenditure$66.373m- State $61.968m- C’wealth $4.318m

CommunityLegal Centresand Women’s

DomesticViolence Court

AssistancePrograms

Civil LawProgram

Family LawProgram

Who we are Services provided by program

FacilitiesState wide programs Expenditure $13.206m- State $4.126m (CLC’s)- State $3.501(WDVCAP)- C’wealth Grants $4.833m- Public Purpose Fund

Grants $0.674m- Children’s Court $0.072m





LegendADR: Alternative Dispute ResolutionAVL: Audio Visual LinkATSI: Aboriginal and Torres Strait IslanderCLC: Community Legal CentreCLE: Community Legal Education

C’wealth: CommonwealthE-Lodgement: Electronic LodgementWDVCAP: Women's Domestic ViolenceCourt Assistance ProgramWDVCAS: Women’s Domestic ViolenceCourt Assistance Scheme

See pages 20–21,24–25 for moredetails



See pages 26,28–29, 76–77 for more details

O V E R V I E W — S U M M A R Y O F S E R V I C E S


Criminal law case representation.

Duty appearances at Local Court.

Criminal law legal advice and minorassistance.

General criminal law information.

Under 18s HotLine.

Adult and Youth Drug CourtPrograms.

Community Legal Education.

What we do

� Increased the number of young peopleassisted by the Under 18s HotLIne.

� Participated in the Electronic Brief pilotproject with other justice agencies.

� Implemented a steering committee toprioritise and make recommendations fromthe criminal law review.

� Introduced private practitioner panels in thearea of children’s crime.

� Expanded the AVL facilities to 7 offices.� Recruited additional lawyers to do crime,

C’wealth committals, and a C’wealth-fundedpublic defender.

� Establish private practitioner panels for Court ofCriminal Appeal matters.

� Commence E-Lodgement in criminal law.� Implement 50% of recommendations from the

criminal law review.� Develop and implement the Electronic Brief pilot

project.� Increase the availability and usage of AVL facilities.� Work with the Coalition of Aboriginal Legal Services

to improve the range and quality of servicesavailable to ATSI people.

� Negotiate an improved service level agreementwith the Public Defenders Office.

Distribute State and Commonwealthfunding to 32 Community LegalCentres.Monitor their Strategic Plans forservice delivery to meet communityneeds.Distribute State funding to 34WDVCAP chemes, providingassistance to women at 52 courtsthroughout the State. Provide a domestic violence solicitorscheme at 5 courts to represent allwomen making ADVO applications.

Civil law case representation.

Civil law legal advice and minorassistance.

General civil law information.

Alternative Dispute ResolutionConferencing.

Community Legal Education.

Veteran’s Advocacy Service.

Mental Health Advocacy Serviceincluding duty appearances beforemagistrates and the Mental HealthReview Tribunal.

Family law case representation

Duty appearances at Local andFamily Courts.

Family law legal advice and minorassistance.

General family law information.

Alternative Dispute ResolutionConferencing.

Community Legal Education

Representation and assistance incare and protection matters.

� Established a Children’s Court AssistanceScheme through 5 legal centres.

� Expanded the Domestic Violence SolicitorsScheme to 5 additional WDVCAPs (now 10schemes in total) and 7 courts, bringing thenumber of courts serviced to a total of 12 .

� Adopted a Cluster Model WDVCAS inLismore.

� Participate in a joint State/Commonwealth review ofthe CLC program in NSW.

� Review and improve crucial management tools,including the service agreement, WDVCAP policiesand procedures and the Domestic Violence SolicitorScheme.

� Produce a best practice guide for WDVCAPs,containing a toolkit that will assist in improvingservice delivery to clients.

� Finalise and commence implementation of the civillaw review.

� Commence a civil law practice in Dubbo to servicecentral and north west regions.

� Develop strategies to enhance service delivery inmental health matters.

� Establish private practitioner panels for veterans’advocacy matters.

� Increase ATSI access to legal services in the mid-north coast and northern tablelands.

� Increase the number of ADR conferences held to1,700, with special emphasis on ATSI communities.

� Conduct a study in partnership with SydneyUniversity into the sustainability of ADR settlements.

� Improve access to legal services in care andprotection matters.

� Establish private practitioner panels for care andprotection and child representation matters.

� Increase C’wealth family law services by 20%.� Conduct outreach services in family law on the far

north and south coasts, and Monaro districts.� Establish the Nowra family outreach office in

permanent accommodation.

� Conducted a civil law conference focusingon human rights.

� Conducted 25 outreach workshops andcommunity legal education sessions inveterans’ advocacy.

� Conducted an inaugural Mental HealthAdvocacy Services conference, attendedby 120 lawyers.

� Increased outreach work and CLE in ruraland regional areas.

� Piloted a family law advice service atKingsford Legal Centre.

� Established duty solicitor services atParramatta Family Court.

� Opened new offices at Dubbo and Nowra.� Increased legal services to ATSI clients in

areas of most need.� Expanded the ADR service to include ATSI

conferencing.� Increased participation in the family law

E-Lodgement project.� Introduced an $80 E-Lodgement fee for

successful new applications submittedelectronically by private practitioners.

� Recruited additional lawyers to meet clientservice needs in regional offices.

What we plan to do in the year aheadWhat we achieved this year

4 Legal Aid NSW

Corporate plan for 2002–2003

We will facilitate a State-wide legal aidservice encompassing communityeducation, information, advice andrepresentation to meet communityneeds and high professional standards.

We will have a professional culture and apositive and productive workenvironment.

We will be an organisation with modernsystems and processes whichmaximise the efficient and effective useof Commission resources.

Strategies Performance measuresImprove access to the range of legal aid services,particularly for people in rural and regional areas.

Develop and apply common practice standardsfor inhouse and assigned work.

Establish panels of private practitioners toconduct assigned work.

Develop and implement a CommissionAboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (ATSI)Justice Strategy to enable us to work betterwith the ATSI community.

Develop and implement a comprehensiveTraining and Development plan whichaddresses staff and client service needs.

Implement an electronic lodgement andpayments system for grants of aid across allpractice areas.

Provide managers with relevant and timelyfinancial and business information to enablethem to more effectively manage theirbusiness.

Simplify and improve our business rules andprocedures to make doing business with theCommission easier.

Enhance the Commission’s capacity toprovide policy input on issues in the justicesystem.

80% of all family law applications arelodged electronically.100% of inhouse criminal lawapplications are lodged electronically.

All Commission staff have online accessto leave balances. Leave and higherduties claims can be submittedelectronically.

All data is entered into LA Office within 3working days of service being delivered.Relevant financial and business informationreports are available electronically.

100% of legal policies and processesreviewed and simplified and availableelectronically

Conduct a strategic review of theCommission’s policy function andimplement recommendations

Enhance the range of initiativesconducted under the Statement ofCooperation with Coalition of AboriginalLegal Services (COALS).

Increase access to services in at leastthree areas in rural/regional NSW.

Practice standards developed for allareas of law.Practice standards are applied to allinhouse practices and implemented forassigned work as panels for privatepractitioners are established.

Panels are implemented in four areas oflegal practice.

Increase legal aid services to ATSIclients in areas of most need.

100% increase in the number of staffaccessing Training and Developmentcourses/activities.

Increase in staff satisfaction withcommunication processes.

80% response rate to survey.

Our

par

tner

sO

ur o

rgan

isat

ion

Our

peo

ple

Keyresultareas

partnersWork with the Aboriginal Legal Services toimprove service delivery to ATSI clients.

people

clients

Conduct a comprehensive staff survey onworking in the Commission.

Develop and implement an internalcommunications improvement plan.

Our

clie

nts

Goals

organisationImplement electronic self-service to allowstaff to electronically access and lodgeHuman Resources data and services.

We will work cooperatively with otherlegal service providers to deliver arange of effective and efficient legal aidservices across the State.

We will participate fully in the legalsystem to ensure the interests ofeconomically and sociallydisadvantaged people are protectedand enhanced.


O V E R V I E W — C O R P O R A T E P L A N

AchievementsEstablished Legal Aid offices at Dubbo and Nowra and expanded family law services at Tamworth, Gosford andWagga Wagga and Lismore.

Developed practice standards for Children’s Court criminal law matters and care and protection matters (inhouseand assigned).Practice standards for veterans’ matters and Court of Criminal Appeal matters finalised and awaiting comment fromstakeholders. Development of practice standards for child representation, family law and civil law matters also underway.

First practitioner panel ‘Children’s Crime’ finalised with 154 successful applicants signing service agreements. Care & Protection panel to be opened for applications in July 2003.Procedures for panel applications streamlined through the enhanced website and simplifying of the serviceagreements.

Developed and finalised an Aboriginal Justice Plan for the Commission. The Plan focuses on three main areas,Awareness, Access and Partnerships.Commenced pilot program involving the employment of 8 Aboriginal clerical trainees who are working in Commissionoffices across the State.

Training calendar for 2002–2003 developed and published on the Intranet. Staff accessing training & development activities increased by 270% for internal training programs and more than100% in many other areas.

Draft communication improvement plan has been developed by an internal steering committee.

The Commission undertook a comprehensive staff survey “Without Prejudice” on 26 February 2003 with a responserate of 93%. The results of the survey were made available to staff on 29 May 2003.

100% of inhouse family law matters are being lodged electronically and 40% of applications from the privateprofession. Project delayed by computer maintenance issues in Commission’s operating system. However, considerable workhas been done in preparation for the roll out of electronic lodgement of criminal law grants applications.

The computerised human resources system CHRIS KIOSK was piloted in the Business Services Division and at theCommission’s Fairfield and Parramatta offices. The pilot was successful and the system is now being rolled outacross the Commission.

As at 30 June 2003 approximately 75% of all case grants are being entered within 3 days. Following a review ofoperating procedures, it is accepted that not all data is capable of being entered within 3 days.Current financial information is made available and emailed electronically, on a regular basis to Commissionmanagers. Business information is available electronically to users of WebFOCUS drill-down reports.

Work on the Commission’s means test, as well as its contributions and payments policy is almost complete.Meetings are underway to discuss appropriate formats for publicising the Commission’s policies which will all bemade available electronically.

A comprehensive review of the policy functions of the Commission has been undertaken and recommendationsmade. Implementation of the recommendations from the review to be completed by August 2003 and a new,centralised Legal/Policy and Planning Unit established.

The Commission, in conjunction with the Sydney Regional Aboriginal Corporation Legal Service, the WesternAboriginal Legal Service and the Kamilaroi Legal Service developed an Agreement for the provision of family lawservices by these three services for a one-year period. Under the Agreement, the three Aboriginal Legal Servicesinvolved are being paid by the Commission to provide family law services, including family law advice.

Chairman’s report

6 Legal Aid NSW

am delighted to present the 24th Annual Report of the Legal Aid Commission of NewSouth Wales for the period 1 July 2002 to 30 June 2003 in accordance with Section 13(1)of the Legal Aid Commission Act 1979 and Section 10(1) of the Annual Reports (StatutoryBodies) Act 1984.

This year has been a very busy year for the Commission. The Commission substantiallyachieved its target by producing an operating surplus for the year. This was reduced to a

deficit by one-off adjustments including a revised method of accountingfor future income which the Commission believes is more consistentwith current accounting practice. This revised accounting treatment hasbeen accepted by the Audit Office and should result in a more realisticview of the Commission’s financial statements as we go forward.

During the course of the year a number of our services and operationalfunctions have been reviewed to ensure that the Commission’soperations are conducted in accordance with best practice.

The take up by the private profession of electronic lodgement has beenvery encouraging. The result has been much faster processing ofapplications for legal aid.

During the year the Board met to consider the key strategic prioritiesfor the current year. We had the benefit of a number of external andinternal presentations. As a result of this workshop the Commissionhas settled its corporate plan for the current year.

Overall I believe that we have had another successful year. We continueto face challenges balancing the high demand for our services withavailable funds.

I would like to thank the Chief Executive Officer, Bill Grant and histeam for their tireless efforts during the last year. I continue to be enormously impressedwith the quality of the Commission’s staff and their strong commitment to the provisionof legal aid in New South Wales.

Phillip Taylor

I

Iam pleased to present the Legal Aid Commission’s Annual Report for 2002–2003, a yearin which the Commission has striven to expand the delivery of its services across theState, has worked hard to rebuild its strong partnership with the private profession andhas begun the process of making the Commission a preferred employer of choice.

From a financial perspective, the Commission recorded a small deficit for the year. Thiswas caused by the impact of two significant transactions. An unexpected adverseadjustment of $4.127 million was made to the Commission's superannuation provisionas a result of a triennial actuarial review of assumptions and lower than expectedinvestment returns. The Commission has no control over this expense.

The Commission also reviewed its accounting policy on the treatment of contributionsreceivable from clients and determined that a change in policy was required toappropriately reflect the true value of contributions from clients. This resulted in a one-off negative impact in the Statement of FinancialPerformance of $3.366 million. Had neither of thesetransactions occurred, the Commission would haveachieved a pleasing surplus, which more accuratelyreflects its operations for the year.

Some of the significant changes and developments duringthis year have included:

� progress of the Commission’s centralised Grantsfunction and the expansion of the electronic lodgementinitiative for family law applications;

� an increase in fees payable to private practitionersundertaking legal aid work;

� completion of the Commission’s first comprehensivestaff survey with a participation rate of 93%;

� opening of the Commission’s new offices in Dubbo andNowra and expansion of its family law program acrossthe State;

� development of a draft Communication ImprovementPlan to enhance the Commission’s internalcommunication processes;

� commencement of implementing the recommendationsfrom the Criminal Law Review and establishing a review of the Commission’s CivilLaw Program;

� continuing increase in the number of Aboriginal clients applying for and beinggranted legal aid through the Commission; and

� significant improvement of our Training and Development Program.

Through the implementation of the Commission’s Corporate Plan and through oursignificant service delivery initiatives I consider that the Commission is meeting thechallenge of providing high level legal assistance to our clients and making the Commissionan interesting and rewarding place to work. The Commission is also continuing to improveits business processes to make doing business with the Commission easier for our privatepractitioner colleagues. I am looking forward to working with our staff in 2003–2004 tobuild upon the significant changes and improvements undertaken this year.

Bill Grant

Chief Executive Officer’s report


8 Legal Aid NSW

Senior managers

Bill was appointed on 26 November 2001.He was previously Deputy DirectorGeneral of the NSW Attorney General’sDepartment for 10 years. Currently alsoChair of the Victims Advisory Board andMember of the Privacy AdvisoryCommittee. Responsible for the provisionof legal aid services through 20 regionaloffices and head office.

The Commission’s achievements this yearincluded the successful implementationof its 2002–2003 Corporate Plan andsecuring funding to be able to increase itsfees payable to private practitionersundertaking legal aid work.

Doug has worked with the Commissionsince 1984 and is highly experienced inall areas of criminal law and mentalhealth advocacy. Responsible for theCriminal Law Practice, providing duty,legal advice, information services andlegal representation to people in allcriminal courts, as well as specialservices to prisoners, young people in

trouble with the law, and participants inthe Youth and Adult Drug Courtprograms. Doug’s achievements this yearincluded piloting the use of electronicbriefs within the Commission, chairingthe Law Society’s Children's LawSpecialist Accreditation Committee androlling out additional video conferencingfacilities to regional offices.

Richard’s earlier experience includes eightyears with Legal Aid in Victoria, and fouryears as Principal Solicitor of the InnerCity Legal Centre NSW. In six years withthe Commission he has held leadershiproles as Solicitor in Charge of theChildren's Legal Service and Director ofFamily and Civil Law.

He is responsible for determining legalaid grants, allocating matters to inhouseand private practitioners. Under Richard’sleadership, substantial online grants andfee increases were delivered to manypractitioners undertaking legal aid work.

Margaret has 20 years managementexperience in both State andCommonwealth agencies. Responsible forthe corporate governance and businessservices in business planning andimprovement, financial management,human resource management, informationmanagement and technology, operationalsupport and library services.

This year Margaret’s significantachievements included the roll out of anintegrated PABX telephone system withstandardised facilities Commission-wideand the introduction of an internal andexternal intranet corporate telephonedirectory. She has also implemented a pilotElectronic Self-Service (ESS) kiosk enablingemployees to view personal data online.

Prior to joining the Commission in lateAugust 2000 Kim was a consultant withTress Cocks & Maddox, specialising in thearea of professional indemnity insurance.The bulk of her career however was spentas a partner in private practice with anArmidale firm. Kim practiced in areas offamily law, criminal law, commercial and

civil litigation and acted for various localgovernment bodies. In 2002, she wasPresident of the Law Society of NSW, thefirst government lawyer to becomePresident. Since returning to theCommission in January 2003, Kim's keyachievement has been developing theParramatta duty lawyer scheme.

Brian has 23 years experience with theCommission, firstly as a civil lawyer (4 years)then as a criminal lawyer (19 years) inregional offices. Responsible for 20regional offices and the administration ofcommunity services across the State. Thisyear’s emphasis was on providing moreoutreach services in regional centres

including Dubbo, Nowra, Lismore andWagga Wagga. Main initiatives includeddeveloping a coordinated approach toservice delivery involving Legal Aid andother service providers and extendinginhouse family services in city andregional centres.

Bill Grant LLB

Chief Executive Officer (SES Level 6)

Budget Total: $124.4mStaff (EFT) Total: 634

Doug HumphreysBCOMM, LLB

Accredited Criminal Law Specialist

Director, Criminal Law (SES Level 4)


Richard FunstonBCOMM, LLB

Accredited Criminal Law Specialist

Director, Grants Division (SES Level 2)


Margaret BrodieAUA, BA, POST GRAD CERT

IN STRATEGIC MARKETING

Director, Business Services (SES Level 2)


Kim Cull DIP LAW, SAB

Accredited Family Law Specialist

Director, Family and Civil Law, (SES Level 4)

Budget: $12.0mStaff (EFT) Total: 95

Brian SandlandBCOMM, LLB

Director, Regional andCommunity Services

(SES Level 2)Budget Total: $37.3mStaff (EFT) Total: 253

O V E R V I E W


Organisational structure

Business Planning andImprovementCorporate and BusinessPlanning

Internal Audit Management

Operational Statistics andOrganisational Performance

Parliamentary Liaison

InformationManagement &TechnologyNetwork Infrastructure

Internet/Intranet Development

IT Business Systems

IT Training

FinanceBudgeting

Debt Recovery

Financial Accounting Services

Financial Information Services

Management AccountingServices

Management InformationSystems

Human ResourceManagementEstablishment Control

Industrial Relations

Employee Relations

Equal EmploymentOpportunity

Occupational Health andSafety Recruitment

Salaries and Conditions

Training and Development

Operational SupportAccommodation

Document Delivery

Fleet Management

Head Office Reception

Legal Searching

Purchasing

LibraryLegal Research

Legal Research Training

Management of LegalInformation Resources

Executive SupportCommission SolicitorLegal Policy Unit

Director Regional & Community Services

Brian Sandland

Director Criminal Law

Doug Humphreys

Director Family andCivil Law

Kim Cull

Director Grants

Richard Funston

Criminal LawAdvocacy

Appeals

Children’s Legal Service(criminal matters)

Committals

Adult and Children’s Drug Courts

Indictable Section

Inner City Local Courts

Prisoners Legal Service

GrantsPanels and ProfessionalStandards Branch

Operations Branch

Policy Branch

Records Branch

Legal Aid Review Committee

Family and Civil LawAlternative Dispute Resolution

Child Care and Protection

Child Support Section

Civil Litigation Section

Family Litigation Section

Mental Health Advocacy Service

Veterans’ Advocacy Service

Regional andCommunity ServicesCommunity Information andProgram Support

Community Legal Centres

Women’s Domestic ViolenceCourt Assistance Program

Client Assessment andReferral

Regional offices*Bankstown, Blacktown, Burwood,Campbelltown, Coffs Harbour,Dubbo, Fairfield, Gosford,Lismore, Liverpool, Manly, Nowra,Newcastle, Orange, Parramatta,Penrith, Sutherland, Tamworth,Wagga Wagga, Wollongong

Legal Services

Business Services

Director BusinessServices

Margaret Brodie

*These offer a range of services in more than one area of law.

Chief Executive Officer

Bill Grant

10 Legal Aid NSW

Board membershipMeetings attended

1 July 2002 to 30 June 2003 2002–2003

Appointed by the Attorney General as Chairperson—Mr Phillip Taylor, BA LLB 9

Appointed by the Attorney General as Chief Executive Officer—Mr Bill Grant, LLB 10

Representing consumer and community interests—Rev. Harry Herbert, BA BD STMDIP. LEGAL STUDIES, Executive Director of UnitingCare NSW. ACT. 10

Representing bodies providing community legal servicesMs Danaë Harvey, BA(Hons), LLB, Solicitor 8

Nominated by the Law Society of NSW—Mr John North, Solicitor 9

Nominated by the NSW Bar Association—Mr Geoff Lindsay, SC, Barrister 10

Nominated by the Labor Council of NSW—Mr Jack Grahame, Solicitor, LAC NSW 7

Representatives who, in the opinion of the NSW Attorney General, possess skills and experience that would benefit the Commission

Ms Anne Britton, BA, LLB 10 Mr Robert Corben 9 Ms Linda Webb, OAM 8

There are nine part-time Board Membersincluding the Chairman, and one full-timeMember, who is the Commission's ChiefExecutive Officer. The Chairman is appointed bythe NSW Attorney General for a maximum ofthree years.

Meetings of the BoardThe Board meets monthly, unless a specialmeeting is convened. There were nine ordinarymeetings and one special meeting in 2002–2003.

Board Members' feesPart-time Board Members are entitled to be paidfees for their work in attending meetings,

reading background papers, sitting oncommittees and representing the Commission atmeetings with other organisations. The rates ofremuneration are $3,120 per annum forMembers and $26,000 per annum for theChairman. No fees are paid to members who aresalaried government employees.

CommitteesThe Board is advised on specific matters by anumber of committees. These include the Auditand Finance Committee, which advises onbudgetary and internal audit matters, andcommittees for each area of law. Details of thesecommittees are included on pages 80–81.

The BoardA Board consisting of 10 Members governs the organisationand determines its strategic priorities

Board Members L to R:Rev. Harry Herbert,

Danaë Harvey, Geoff Lindsay SC, Linda Webb OAM,

Bill Grant, Phillip Taylor, John North, Anne Britton,

Robert Corben, Jack Grahame.

O V E R V I E W

Statistical overview

0 30,000 60,000 90,000 120,000 150,000

Commission wide services

Clie

nt P

rofil

e 20

02–2

003

53,258

64,356

131,927

53,319

389

1,412







Legal Advice




Under 18s HotLine Service

110,819

57,500

10,181

35,350

17,908

FundingThe Commission receives its income from the Commonwealth and NSW Governments, the PublicPurpose Fund and its clients. Combined income for 2002-03 was $126.964 million, and expenditurewas $129.863 million. The Commission undertakes work for the Commonwealth on the basis of afour-year agency agreement.

66.373m

38.314mCriminal

CLS

CivilFamily

11.969m13.207m

52.704m

50.516m13.918m

12.725m

Salaries

External Legal

CLCs etc

Other

65.088m

15.965m(0.563m)

2.220m

44.254m State

Clients

Law Society

OtherCommonwealth

Where the funds come fromHow the dollar is spent by program

Where the dollar is spent

Service deliveryGrants of aid have increased by 10.2% and duty appearances have decreased by 2.9%. Legal adviceand information services have increased by 29.3% and 23.7% respectively from 2001–2002.


This year weincreased grantsof aid and providedsignificantly morelegal advice andinformationservices

12 Legal Aid NSW

Our clientsWe expanded our services to reach people living in regionaland remote areas

Vital newservices wereintroduced in

Dubbo andNowra

This year, there was a strong focus on developinginitiatives to address identified gaps in servicedelivery around the State. To facilitate this, theCommission created the new position ofRegional Client Services Coordinator. Thecoordinator’s role is dedicated to findinginnovative ways of delivering services in areaswhere they are currently lacking in the contextof the Commission’s available resources.

Several areas were identified as having urgentunmet legal needs; namely Dubbo and Nowra.Following consultation with community legalcentres, Aboriginal Legal Services and localprivate firms, Legal Aid established andconsolidated new services in these areas as wellas launching additional services in areas suchas Wagga Wagga.

New family law service in Nowra Legal Aid launched a 12-month family law pilotproject in Nowra to address the lack of Legal Aidfor family law matters in the Shoalhaven and farSouth Coast. The trial project started on 18November 2002 when the new office, based inNowra, became a satellite of our Wollongongoffice.

Two family lawyers provided advice and caseworkservices, as well as a duty service to the localcourts in the area, including Bega, Eden,Merimbula, Batemans Bay, Moruya and Nowra.

Our presence was strongly welcomed by the LocalCourt Registrar in Nowra and by ShoalcoastCommunity Legal Centre where staff had becomeconcerned about service delivery gaps and theiradverse affect on the community, mostparticularly in Batemans Bay and Bega wherethere was an urgent need for representation infamily law.

The pilot has already shown a very successfultrend, as many people who would otherwise havegone to court, have successfully resolved theirmatter with the help of Legal Aid’s mediationprogram.

Free divorce classes also commenced in Nowra on5 June, 2003 and were conducted in conjunctionwith the Shoalcoast Community Legal Centre.

The pilot project will also aim to gather first handinformation about the need for an ongoing LegalAid presence in the area and identify the locationof any future Legal Aid services in the region.

Dubbo now services most of westernNew South WalesConsolidation of a permanent Legal Aid presencein Dubbo saw our clients in the region receivingconsistent and quality representation in the areasof criminal law, family law and child support thisyear.

The office has moved quickly since February 2002when, housed in temporary accommodation, twolawyers ran a criminal law practice, offering onlyminor advice in family and civil law. In the lastyear, after moving into permanentaccommodation, the office expanded its servicesto provide assistance in most areas of law,including child support and family lawconferencing for Aboriginal communities acrosswestern NSW.

In addition to providing free legal advice, theoffice conducted community legal educationprograms in Dubbo and surrounding areas toensure people had access to information abouttheir legal rights.

The year ended with the formal consolidation ofthe Commission’s presence in the region with theofficial opening of the Dubbo Regional Office on20 June 2003. The NSW Attorney General Mr BobDebus officially opened the premises at 64Talbragar Street following a "Traditional welcome"by Mr Will Burns representative of the Wiradjuri"Red-ochre" people.

A civil law service will commence in August 2003where members of the public can receive freelegal advice in relation to any civil law problem.The service will also represent clients in a varietyof civil law areas such as consumer law,insurance, housing, discrimination, social securityand veterans’ entitlements. In the lead up to thisexpansion, Legal Aid held discussions with theDubbo Community Legal Centre and the WesternAboriginal Legal Centre to establish the bestmeans of addressing the civil law needs of thepeople of Dubbo and surrounding areas.

Wagga expands its servicesThis year, Wagga Wagga office introduced severalinnovative programs to assist clients with familylaw problems.

Wagga now offers a Family Law Duty Day atWagga Wagga Local Court each Tuesday–courtlist day for family law matters. The Duty Schemeaims to assist people who would otherwise beunrepresented in family law matters. It alsocontributes to the smooth running of the Courtas the lawyer is able to give legal advice infamily law matters and some limitedrepresentation and negotiations.

An advice clinic was also set up to run everyWednesday (by appointment only). If clients arefrom outlying areas telephone appointments aremade where the solicitor telephones the client.Due to the huge success of this initiative,another appointment only advice clinic wasmade available on Monday afternoons.

Also this year (27 February), the office launchedits first divorce class similar to those run in thecity and other regional offices. Followingcoverage in local newspapers and on radio, themonthly classes have remained consistently wellattended.

In addition, on 26 June this year the officecommenced family law advice by telephone toclients living in the Cooma/Monaro area.

All of the new initiatives have been well receivedby members of the public, the profession and thebench.

Aboriginal clients stand to benefit from a newStatement of Cooperation that was signed thisyear between Wagga Wagga Legal Aid office andthe Coalition of Aboriginal Legal Services. TheStatement aims to improve access to legalservices for indigenous people. Under theagreement, Legal Aid and COALS will promoteeach other’s services by referring matters thatcannot be undertaken by the other party. Anexample of how the cooperation has worked sofar is the recent arrangement that ensuresAboriginal people in the region have betteraccess to family law services. At present, theWiradjuri (Central and Southern) AboriginalLegal Service does not provide family lawservices. In response, Wagga Legal Aid hasexpanded its family law services and as a result,indigenous clients make up 35% of all clientsgranted aid for family law. Indigenous personscomprise approximately 14% of the regionalpopulation in Wagga Wagga.

Aboriginal Awareness Workshops run by LegalAid also focused on expanding services forindigenous clients in the near future, particularlythose living in remote areas of NSW.

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70

59%11%

25.6%1.7%

3.9%

13.3%12.5%

59.4%

39.7%10.9%

12.2%24.1%

31.5%14.3%

17.6%3.7%

Who our clients are—all areas of lawSydney Region

Wollongong/Newcastle RegionRural NSW Region

Inter-State/OverseasInterpreter Required

Born in NESC*With Dependants

On C’Wealth BenefitWomen (Total)

Women Rural NSWAge Under 18 Years

Age 18–25 YearsAge 26–40 YearsAge 41–60 Years

Age Over 60 YearsAboriginal/Torres Strait Islander

*Non-English speaking country Percentage by client groups

Dear Bora Touch

(Fairfield office)

I take this opportunity tothank you for the hardeffort that you and LegalAid contributed on mybehalf regarding mydisability support pension.Though it took timehowever, the end resultwas to my benefit. Thus, I greatly thank you.

N.M.

Dear Legal Aid,

I am extremely gratefulthat I was able to seekadvice from Legal AidCampbelltown recently.

I was ignorant, confusedand distressed aboutsuperannuation and theday of due payment. Adebt burden caused me toseek Legal Aid.

Thanks to DamienHenessey, I was almostimmediately relieved of myconcerns. Damienconfirmed that paymentcould be made and alsokindly rang the Super Fundand arrangeddocumentation thathastened matters.

It was such a relief fromwhat I had beenexperiencing. The extentcan be gauged by the factthat I considered optingout, a rather appallingsolution, I concede.

I am thankful to Legal Aidand to Damien.

R.M.

CEO Bill Grant andHewitt Whyman fromthe Wiradjuri (Central

and Southern)Aboriginal Legal Service

sign the Statement ofCooperation.

Clie

nt le

tter

s Two of the manyletters Legal Aidreceives fromsatisfied clients.These letters showjust how vital ourservice is!

C L I E N T S


14 Legal Aid NSW

EmployeesAs at June 2003, the Commission employed 683staff in the equivalent of 634 full-time positionswith 250 positions located in the Commission’sregional offices and 384 in head office.

Learning and development highlightsThis year has seen a dramatic increase intraining and development activity across theCommission with the introduction of many newand innovative programs (for details see page78). Inhouse training attendance increased by270% with the employment of the Manager,Corporate Training and Development inNovember 2002.

Key achievements for 2002–2003included the introduction of:

� a Learning and Development Plan, linked tothe Corporate Plan and various reviewsundertaken in 2002;

� a Corporate Induction Program to familiarisenew staff with the Commission and OH&Srequirements;

� a Management Development Program inpartnership with UTS Training andDevelopment Services offering managers andsupervisors enrolment and support in theDiploma of Business (Frontline Management);

� Client Services Programs including AboriginalAwareness, Managing Aggressive and ViolentBehaviour, Interpersonal Skills in CustomerService; and

� a comprehensive and ongoing Grants OfficerTraining Program.

The Commission also maintained a number ofother training and development services.Ongoing programs included:

� delivering conferences and seminars attendedby over 1000 Commission, Community LegalCentre staff and private practitioners as part ofMandatory Continuing Legal Education;

� Specialist Accreditation Program. TheCommission has 66 lawyers with specialistaccreditation: 39 in criminal law; 20 in familylaw; two in advocacy; four in children’s lawand one in personal injury.

� Study leave approval was given to 22 staff,with 11 of these being granted fee assistancethrough the Further Education FinancialAssistance Program.

Equal Employment OpportunityachievementsThe Commission continued to promote equalopportunity in employment. Key initiatives forthis year included:

� recruiting eight Aboriginal/Torres StraitIslander trainees to provide clerical support atBankstown, Burwood, Dubbo, Gosford,Parramatta, Tamworth and Head Office.Trainees undertook on-the-job clerical trainingcombined with a formal TAFE component oftraining in Business/AdministrationCertificate;

� developing initiatives under an ATSI Justice Planto provide employment and career opportunitiesfor ATSI people and improve culturally sensitiveservice delivery to ATSI clients;

� conducting recruitment action to fill the ATSICareer Development Officer position in theHRM Branch;

� recruiting an Access and Equity Officer in theRegional and Community Services Divisionwho is responsible for developing andimplementing our Equity and Access Programto address the Commission’s statutory andpolicy responsibilities under the DisabilityPlan and Ethnic Affairs Priorities Statement(EAPS);

� developing a Flexible Work Practices Policyand Guidelines for Managers to improveequitable access to flexible work options forthe Commission’s staff members.

Employee relationsIn 2002–2003, we focussed on improving the waywe communicate with staff by establishing variouscommittees to review and improve our communi-cations and work practices, including theCommunications Improvement Steering Committeeand the Criminal Law Review Committee.

We conducted a pilot for Electronic Self Servicewith employees reporting real benefits frombeing directly able to access their payroll andleave details for the first time.

Occupational health and safety andworkers’ compensationThis year, we established an Occupational Healthand Safety (OH&S) Committee which provides aconsultative approach to managing the health andsafety of staff in the Commission. The Committeehas also agreed upon a Legal Aid CommissionOH&S Policy and an OHS Committee ConsultationStatement outlining the terms of reference for thatCommittee.

There has been an increase in the number ofworkers’ compensation claims in 2002–2003compared with last year. There has also been anincrease in the number of injuries and incidentsreported this year. This may be associated withrevised procedures for reporting on incidentsand injuries which were distributed during thefinancial year and the introduction of a newincident reporting form as well as the existinginjury notification form (see graphs in margin).

Our peopleOur staff are our greatest asset – they are crucial to Legal Aid’ssuccess

Staff Numbers over last 5 years

Actual staff number at financial year endE.F.T. figures financial year end

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

2003

2002

2001

2000

1999

Inhouse trainingattendance

increased by270%

P E O P L E

In response to a number of injuries that occurredwhilst staff members were on duty but were notactually in the Legal Aid office, a series of draftminimum safety standards have been prepared.The objective of the draft safety standards is toimpose minimum safety standards that will bemet by other agencies to minimise the risk toCommission staff members when they visitfacilities managed by these agencies, includingLocal Courts, Corrective Services, JuvenileJustice, children’s courts and mental healthfacilities.

Individual achievementsIn the 2003 AustraliaDay Honours List, Senioradvocate at Penrithoffice, Bill Sandilandswas awarded the PublicService Medal foroutstanding service tothe Commission andEddie Selwyn, headoffice received the Medalof the Order of Australiafor service to the lawand to the communitythrough his work as aLegal Aid criminal lawyer.

Kerry Graham (aboveleft) received the 2002

Award for Outstanding Representation of Childrenand Young People in NSW from the NationalChildren's and Youth Law Centre (NCYLC).

Civil lawyer Liz Biok was nominated for theLaw and Justice Foundation's Justice Medal forher extensive work with East Timorese asylumseekers.

The year aheadHRM will develop and implement a:

� comprehensive recruitment strategy;� career development and performance

management system; and � a range of strategies arising out of the

Without Prejudice staff survey.

We will also extend the corporate training anddevelopment program and complete the jobevaluation accreditation project and gainaccreditation.

A range of public sector initiatives such assalary packaging for non-SES staff will also beintroduced.

In 2003–2004, our strong focus on training willinclude:

� providing more training and developmentopportunities at regional locations;

� expanding Occupational Health and Safetytraining to enhance meeting the legislativeresponsibilities;

� expanding client services training programsto include working with clients with mentalillness, culturally and linguistically diversebackgrounds;

� investigating existing worker traineeships fornon-legal staff; and

� expanding the Induction Program to includethe introduction of programs such as VisitingGaols, Advocacy Workshops, Law for Non-lawyers.

Key improvement areasProviding effective and realistic HR-relatedservices across the organisation whilstcomplying with public sector legislative

and policy requirements in a climate ofincreasing pressure to reduce corporate servicecosts/resources, is an ongoing challenge. To thisend, Human Resources needs to continuallyreview and improve its operations, its policy andprocedural base, to ensure relevance andeffectiveness. Effectively balancing the day today “business as usual” requirements of theorganisation with the need to undertake thisongoing review process, is a key focus forimprovement for the HRM Branch.

Workers Compensation Claims

2001–2003

0

5

10

15

20

2002

-200

3

2001

-200

2

Num

ber

of C

laim

s

WorkplaceOn duty, not at officeJourneyLunchtimeProperty claim only

Work Related Injury/Accidents

2001–2003

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

2002

–200

3

2001

–200

2

Workplace On duty not at officeJourney

Num

ber

of R

epor

ts

Lunch-time injuries/accidents

Aboriginal trainees LindaCoe and ChristinePlowright: ‘This is agreat opportunity for usto learn about ourjustice system’.


Our clientsThis year staff:

� provided advice and minor assistance to 6,363clients;

� assisted people with 288 duty services at court;� provided 47 divorce classes in head office and

regional offices. Classes were offered for thefirst time this year in Wagga Wagga and BrokenHill;

� conducted 33 community legal educationsessions across NSW;

� held 1,410 family conferences compared with1,402 last year, reaching full or partial agree-ment in 84.4% of them;

� established the pilot duty scheme at the FamilyCourt and Federal Magistrate’s Service atParramatta (see page 32 for details);

� trialled an outreach family law advice serviceat Kingford Legal Centre;

� established a new child support service inDubbo and surrounding region by employing afull-time legal officer at our Dubbo office, and

� expanded the inhouse practice to provideadditional family law services at Dubbo,Nowra, Gosford, Lismore, Tamworth andWagga Wagga.

� held 18 mediations within The Aboriginal andTorres Strait Islander Family Mediation(ATSIFAM) program piloted in Dubbo andSouth West Sydney. 50 matters were referredoverall, with many still awaiting mediation;and

� provided inhouse legal representation to morethan 1,205 adults and children involved inChildren’s Court care matters around the Statethrough the Care and Protection Legal Service(see page 32 for details).

Our peopleFamily lawyers Alex Wearne and Mae Fan joinedthe Women on Wheels project (coordinated by theDepartment for Women) providing advice tocommunities in the north west of the State.

Child Support lawyers provided outreach services tothe upper Hunter, Central West, Albury, NorthernTablelands, the far north and far west of the state.

Family lawyers organised specialist workshops andpresented a range of papers at conferences andseminars.

Our organisation� Introduced a flexible work practices program

between head office and regional offices so newregional family lawyers can familiarisethemselves with our service delivery programsand head office lawyers can participate in theduty solicitor scheme at Parramatta.

� Improved our training program for family lawconferencing chairpersons to include a one-dayseminar on advanced negotiation techniquespresented by Professor John Wade from BondUniversity, an internationally acclaimedmediation trainer.

� Increased the number of family law conferencingrooms and facilities, including Dubbo andCampbelltown offices.

� Assisted the Grants Division in the developmentof policy, practice standards and fee scales forlawyers involved in care and protection matters,with a view to the implementation of State Careand Protection Panels.

Our partners� Through the assigned practice, private practitioners

provided representation for 8,596 new case grants,and conducted 3,792 duty appearances at court.

� Legal Aid staff coordinated, in partnership withthe Law Council of Australia and National LegalAid, the first national child representativestraining course in Sydney for nearly two years tocoincide with the release of comprehensive draftguidelines by the Chief Justice of the Family Courtfor the child’s representative.

� Legal Aid and the Law Society of NSW jointlyorganised the 2002 Family Law SpecialistAccreditation Conference at which Her ExcellencyProfessor Marie Bashir, Governor of NSW chaireda keynote session on cultural issues impacting onfamily law.

� Collaborated with the Aboriginal Advisory Counciland the Community Justice Centres of NSW topresent a seminar in NSW Parliament House onPathways to Indigenous Dispute Resolution.

� Established links with the Department ofCorrective Services to introduce a pilot programproviding family conferencing opportunities forprison inmates.

Our organisationFamily and Civil Law Division (Family Law)This sub-division forms part of the Family Law Program and includes Family Litigationat head office, Child Support and Alternative Dispute Resolution

A Child Support Networkmeeting in progress:

Representatives of the ChildSupport Service, Legal Aid

Commission, Macarthur LegalCentre, South West SydneyLegal Centre, Child SupportAgency, Centrelink and the

Australian Government Solicitormeet to discuss child support

legal issues on a regular basis.

16 Legal Aid NSW

Significant cases included:Child receives treatment for cancer

We were appointed child’s representative for H,an 11 year old child in Supreme Courtproceedings relating to her medical treatment. Hwas diagnosed with cancer in late 2002 and wasoperated on to remove the cancer. Subsequently,her parents declined to follow medical advice tohave her undergo chemotherapy wishing topursue alternative therapies. By May 2003, H’shealth had started to significantly decline, andthe Department of Community Services broughtSupreme Court proceedings to compel H’streatment, relying on the parent’s patriaejurisdiction of that Court. Following interimorders made by the Court, H commencedreceiving treatment, including chemotherapy, inhospital.

Father found after 13 years

A Newcastle client had a daughter, J, born inJuly 1990. Our client had lost contact with J’sfather and never received any child supportpayments from him. To obtain a child supportassessment, we had to obtain proof of paternity.An Australia-wide search of the electoral rollshowed one person named MM lived in NSW.We contacted MM who confirmed he was thefather. MM signed a statutory declarationacknowledging paternity of J on the basis thathe did not have to pay arrears of child support.Our client is now receiving child supportpayments for the first time in 13 years.

Conference reaches agreement

The Alternative Dispute Resolution Unit had acase concerning residence and contact inrelation to two young children who had lived

with their mother since the parents hadseparated. There had been disputes about whoelse lived in the home and the privacy andlifestyle of the mother. An AVO had been takenby the mother against the father to prevent himfrom coming to the mother’s home.

The father came to the conferenceunrepresented and was quite agitated, sayingthe conference would not achieve anything.However, many of his concerns weresuccessfully addressed during the conference sothat grounds of agreement were reached on allissues in dispute.

Key improvement areasProvide more legal services to regional areas where clients often gounrepresented and be more aware of the

needs of specific groups of clients, includingAboriginal clients and clients with intellectualdisabilities.

We will improve our family law documentmanagement systems in order to ensure thedelivery of high quality legal services in a timelyand consistent manner.

The year aheadIn 2003–2004, we will further integrate our headoffice family litigation section and regionalfamily law practices to improve service deliveryand mentoring for practitioners in regionalareas.

Placing special emphasis on our alternativedispute conferencing program, we will increasethe number of conferences held to 1,700 andincrease alternative dispute resolution servicesto Aboriginal communities in particular.

Indigenousparents sharecontactWe acted as child’srepresentative forfour children in the

Family Court, Sydney. As theresult of a dispute in thefamily, three of the childrenlived with their father south ofSydney, while the fourth livedwith her mother in the northwestern part of the state. Themother was finding it difficultto participate in the courtproceedings. It was possiblethat the matter wouldproceed on an undefendedbasis with the court unlikelyto have the evidence itneeded to make a decision inthe best interests of thechildren. Following Legal Aidintervention, the Family Courtcalled on the services of oneof its Aboriginal liaisonofficers. The mother has nowparticipated in courtproceedings and presentorders provide for contact ofthe children to both parents.

Mother awardedfortnightly contact and travel expensesWe represented a motherwhose three-year-olddaughter B was the subjectof ongoing care proceedingsin which DoCS was seekinglong term parentalresponsibility for the child.Pending the final hearing,interim orders were madegiving parental responsibilityof B to the Minister forCommunity Services butrequiring weekly contactbetween B and her parents.However, before the finalhearing, B’s foster carersmoved to the South Coast,making the contact difficultand expensive. DoCS thensought an order reducing thecontact between B and herparents. At the interimhearing, we argued that thereshould be fortnightly contactand, as the mother was on apension, that DoCS shouldpay the mother’s travel andaccommodation expenses forattending contact on theSouth Coast. The Magistratemade the orders sought bythe mother. DoCS has nowappealed this decision to theSupreme Court.

Cas

e st

udie

s

74.2%3.7%

17.4% 2.9%

11.7%32.8%

9.559.3%

47.7%

2.5%13.7%

34.7%30.3%

17.8%2.6%

Who our clients are—Family and Civil DivisionSydney Region

Wollongong/Newcastle RegionRural NSW Region


With DependantsOn C’Wealth Benefit

Women (Total)Women Rural NSW

Age Under 18 YearsAge 18-25 YearsAge 26-40 YearsAge 41-60 Years


Born in NESC*


7.3%

O R G A N I S A T I O N


18 Legal Aid NSW

Our clientsThis year, staff working in the Civil Law Program:

� provided information to 8,088 clients;� provided face to face legal advice and minor

assistance to 6,316 clients;� represented over 11,539 people in case and duty

matters in priority areas of housing, consumerlaw, human rights law, migration and socialsecurity law, mental health advocacy andveterans’ advocacy;

� acted for a large group of East Timorese asylumseekers whose applications for asylum weredelayed for almost 10 years and were recentlyreactivated;

� conducted litigation in the Federal Court dealingwith disability discrimination in educationincluding in schools and universities;

� conducted litigation in the Consumer TraderTenancy Tribunal in a matter against a financecompany, which has systematically sought toavoid the provisions of the Consumer CreditCode by requiring all applications for finance toindicate a business purpose. The case will affectall customers of the company.

� provided outreach civil advice services in 14locations throughout New South Walesincluding services targeted at ATSI clients;

� provided a duty service at the AdministrativeDecisions Tribunal;

� veterans’ advocates provided 25 regional adviceclinics and nine community legal educationseminars in regional NSW addressing veterans’entitlements and related legal issues; and

� increased representation of Aboriginal veteransin their appeals for disability pensions before theAdministrative Appeals Tribunal.

Our people � Conducted a civil law conference entitled

A Focus on Human Rights. The conferencebrought together civil lawyers from across theCommission and Community Legal Centres, tohear an array of speakers present papers on newand emerging developments in administrativelaw, discrimination law consumer law andprivacy law.

� Produced and launched a brochure on motorvehicle property damage for uninsured motorvehicle owners.

� Updated the Law Handbook chapters on debtand migration law.

� Updated the Lawyers Practice Manual chapteron consumer law and administrative law andwrote new chapters on insurance andsuperannuation law.

� Conducted education sessions for East Timoreseasylum seekers; financial counsellors andtenants’ advocates.

� Veterans’ advocate, Adam Halstead wrote a newchapter dedicated to veterans’ law for theLawyers’ Practice Manual (LPM).

Our organisationWe have commenced a comprehensive review ofthe Civil Law Program including our strategicdirection, policies, resources and practicemanagement.

Also, this year, veterans’ advocates drafted theprofessional practice standards for veterans’matters for inhouse advocates and privatepractitioners on veterans’ panels.


provided representation for 382 new case grants;and conducted 6,618 duty appearances at court.

It has always been a priority of the Civil LawProgram to work in close partnership with relatedagencies to share knowledge that can ultimatelyaffect the progress of legislation or improve accessto legal services for disadvantaged people. Thisyear, we:� provided representation on a range of

committees relevant to housing, consumer,discrimination, social security and immigrationlaw (see page 75);

� developed links with consumer advocates acrossthe country; and

� contributed to the editing of telephone talks andinternet advice published by Law Access.

Family and Civil Law Division (Civil Law)This sub-division forms part of the Civil Law Program and includes Civil LawLitigation at head office, Mental Health Advocacy Service and Veterans’ Advocacy Service

A seminar for ex-Servicewomen in Armidaledrew a large crowd eager

to find out about their legalrights and entitlements.

Civil lawyersrepresented

11,539 people

Discrimination appeal goes to High CourtWe acted for a 17-year-old state wardwho has a brain injuryin a landmark

discrimination case. This is thefirst case of its kind involvingdisability discrimination in NSWhigh schools. Three yearsago, the Human Rights andEqual Opportunity Commission(HREOC) found that the NSWDepartment of Educationdiscriminated against our clientby suspending him from hishigh school. HREOC found thatDaniel was excluded becauseof his behaviour, caused by hisdisability. The Departmentappealed to the Federal Courtwhere HREOC’s decision wasoverturned and a distinctiondrawn between a ‘disability’ onthe one hand and the ‘conductwhich it causes’ on the other.

We appealed that decisionto the Full Federal Court, onthe ground that the distinctionis artificial. The Full Court,however, agreed with JusticeEmmett in finding that thebehavioural manifestations of adisability should be treated asseparate and distinct from thedisability itself. The effect ofthis decision is that manypeople with disabilities thathave behaviouralmanifestations will fall outsidethe protection of the Act.

The matter was heard bya full bench of the High Courtin Canberra in April 2003 andwas the first opportunity forthe High Court to consider theissues of direct discriminationand the provisions of theDisability Discrimination Act. A decision is expected late2003.


Significant cases included:M v A Finance Company

Our client took action against a finance companyto assert breaches of the NSW Credit Code. Thefinance company offers loans by advertisingthrough a major newspaper. Its standard loandocument includes a business-purposedeclaration, which would normally exempt itfrom complying with the provisions of the CreditCode. The Code seeks to protect consumers,including from excessive interest rates. Our clientasserted that the company was aware that thepurpose of her loan was not for business. Giventhe implications for borrowers if lenders are ableto avoid the provisions of the Code by obtainingsham business purpose declarations, we acted forthe borrower in her application to the ConsumerTrader and Tenancy Tribunal to have the contractreopened.

NSW Department of Housing v K

Our client was an elderly and long-term tenant ofthe Department of Housing. Based on vaguepolice information that he had been charged withcriminal offences connected with his premises,the Department of Housing sought to terminatehis tenancy. In the Consumer Trader and TenancyTribunal, we established that the Department’stermination notice was invalid as it failed toprovide sufficient information for the tenant toknow the case he had to answer. The case hasforced the Department of Housing to reconsider itstermination policies and practices and providefairer treatment to its tenants.

Minister for Immigration and Multiculturaland Indigenous Affairs v NASS

We successfully defended an appeal to theFederal Court by the Minister for Immigration, ina refugee case. The Federal Court found that amember of the Refugee Review Tribunal hadacted recklessly in evaluating evidence by anIranian asylum seeker who feared persecutiondue to his religion. The Court found that memberhad misstated the evidence in numerous respectsand used these misstatements as the basis forrefusing the application. As a result our clienthad not been afforded natural justice. The matterwas remitted for a re-hearing to the RefugeeReview Tribunal.

AJ v Department of Immigration andMulticultural and Indigenous Affairs

Our client was an asylum seeker from Africa whoarrived in Australia with no relevantdocumentation. The Department of Immigrationand Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs (DIMIA)officer who interviewed our client obtained alanguage analysis to confirm our client’s countryof origin. DIMIA refused our client’s applicationon the basis that they did not accept his claim asto his country of origin. DIMIA refused toprovide a copy of the language analysis. Weappealed to the AAT under the Freedom ofInformation Act and obtained a copy of the

language analysis. This document supported ourclient’s assertion as to his country of origin. TheRefugee Review Tribunal later determined thatour client was a refugee.

Kattenberg v Repatriation Commission

This case explained the correct manner ofassessing the contributory role of war service tocausal factors of disease and has had significantapplication in obtaining concessions in smokingrelated diseases and orthopaedic conditionsrelated to repetitive strain/trauma.

Vietnam Veterans’ Association of Australia(New South Wales Branch) v SpecialistMedical Review Council and Ors

We successfully challenged the standard of proofapplied in the Statement of Principles relating towar veterans.

Civil liberties cases

We also acted in a number of cases arising out ofrevelations during the NSW Police RoyalCommission. These cases concern admissions bypolice of fabricated confessions, which led to ourclients suffering loss of liberty for long periods,in one case up to 10 years. These cases involvelengthy and complex litigation in the District andSupreme Court.

Key improvement areasA review of the Civil Law Program iscurrently underway. The review will focuson the inhouse program and assess issues

such as our policies, our practices, our processesand systems and our resources. The review willalso consider how the program is meeting theneeds of communities across New South Walesand the effectiveness of partnerships with otherlegal service providers. The review will makerecommendations on the future direction of theprogram to ensure it is effective, efficient andinnovative.

The year aheadWe plan to improve service delivery by:

� completing a review of the civil law programand

� developing a civil law service at our Dubbooffice.

Note: Civil law client profile is included as part of Family andCivil Division profile on page 17.

Forum opens doors on mental health

During Law Week (16 May 2003), our Mental Health Advocacy Serviceorganised a one-day national conference to raise awareness about keymental health issues. Opening Doors, Keys to Effective Mental HealthAdvocacy provided training and support for lawyers conducting mentalhealth hearings throughout the State. Approximately 120 practitionersattended, including Commission staff and private solicitors and barristers.The audience was both informed and entertained by an excellent range ofspeakers. Highlights included an entertaining opening address form JeffKennett, chairman of beyondblue, and a lively forum facilitated by JulieMcCrossin of ABC Radio.H

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20 Legal Aid NSW

Our clientsIn 2002–2003 staff in this division:

� provided representation for 7,959 new casegrants;

� provided 15,114 duty services;� provided information to 5,350 clients;� provided advice and minor assistance to 9,989

clients;� advised 3,494 prison inmates;� represented 217 people in the Court of Criminal

Appeal (CCA) and five people in the HighCourt;

� Appeal lawyers won 73 of 119 sentence appeals(61%), 23 of 62 conviction appeals (37%) and16 of 36 Crown appeals (44%) in the CCA;

� achieved a 10.5% increase in total clientservices over the previous year;

� answered 10,181 calls on the HotLine andadvised 5,623 young people (an increase of41% and 19.5% respectively on last year), themajority of whom were in police custody; and

� represented 80 young people referred to theYouth Drug Court Program.

Our people� Two senior criminal lawyers were recognised in

the Australia Day Honours list: Eddie Selwyn,Relief Section, OAM and Bill Sandilands, SeniorAdvocate, PSM.

� Four staff gained specialist accreditation in the newarea of children’s law and a further seven incriminal law. The Commission now employs 45accredited specialists in criminal law.

� Children’s lawyer, Matthew Greenaway co-presented a paper at the Youth and Drugsconference in Wellington, New Zealand. Thepaper discussed the NSW Youth Drug Court

program, highlighting the uniqueness of theprogram.

� Increased the number of inhouse lawyers andsupport staff to meet increased workloadscaused by changes to the Court of CriminalAppeal rules.

Our organisation� Began implementing the recommendations of

the Criminal Law Review as part of improvingcriminal law service delivery.

� Increased access to and use of videoconferencing of prisoners in New South WalesCorrectional Centres.

� Seconded senior criminal staff to the GrantsDivision to enhance the Commission’s capacityto manage complex assigned criminal lawmatters.


provided representation for 8,929 new casegrants; and conducted 42,909 duty appearancesat court.

� Legal Aid staff participated in the roll out ofthe Magistrates Early Referral into TreatmentProgram that diverts drug-addicted offendersfrom the Local Court. The program has been ahuge success, assisting clients to address theirdrug issues and seek treatment.

� Staff participated in many inter-agencycommittees and working parties. Commissionparticipation is regularly sought (see page 83).

� Made 20 law reform submissions, including alengthy and well-received submission on areview of the laws on manslaughter in NewSouth Wales.

� Signed a further service level agreement withthe Public Defenders Office for 2002–2003.

Criminal Law DivisionThis division forms part of the Criminal Law Program and includes Inner City Local Courts,Children’s Legal Service, Advocacy Unit, Indictable and Indictable Appeals Sections,Committals Unit, Prisoners Legal Service, Youth Drug Court and Adult Drug Court

Increase in Under 18s HotLine calls taken

2001-2003

0

2,000

4,000

6,000

8,000

10,000

12,000

Young peopleadvised

Answered calls

2003

2002

2001

This yearwe advised

5,623 youngpeople over the

HotLine — anincrease of19.5% on

last year

‘No pattern of leniency’, says the Court. Legal Aid and Public Defenders collaborated to fight an application for increased penalties andmade history in the process.

In a recent case, the Attorney Generalapplied to the Court of Criminal Appeal(CCA) for guidelines under Section 60 (1) ofthe Crimes Act, the common assault ofpolice officers. It was submitted that the penalties imposedwere generally too lenient and increasedpenalties were sought, including a full timegaol sentence if certain aggravating featureswere present. Legal Aid and the PublicDefenders Office opposed the making of theguideline judgement on the basis that theaggravating features they highlighted werepresent in virtually all cases and a guidelinein the terms sought would have completely

curtailed the court’s discretion in dealingwith such cases. It was argued the endresult would have been a significantincrease in the prison population, includinga disproportionate number of Aboriginalpeople. In a unanimous decision, the five-member bench of the Court of CriminalAppeal turned down the application forguidelines, the first time it has ever done so.The Court said it was not satisfied there wasa pattern of leniency in sentencing bymagistrates in assault police matters incircumstances where the Crown has notexercised its right to lodge appeals againstthe leniency of sentences.H

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Via videoconferencing,

criminal lawyer,Anthony Goodridge

and his client areable to take advicefrom Dubbo-based

Public Defender, EricWilson.

This included funding for an additionalPublic Defender to undertake Commonwealthwork and a 6% targeted increase in serviceoutput by the Defenders.

� Held a successful Juvenile Justice conferenceattended by 120 lawyers, including 80 privatepractitioners.

� Held a conference for 98 private practitionershighlighting changes to procedures in theCourt of Criminal Appeal.

Key improvement areaThe safety of staff working in high riskareas will be a priority in 2002–2003.Legal Aid will collaborate with other

government departments to improveoccupational health and safety standards forLegal Aid staff in court complexes, gaols andother places where staff work outside ofCommission offices.

The year aheadIn 2003-2004, we will consolidate key initiatives,including:

� implementing at least 50% of therecommendations from the Criminal LawReview;

� implementing panels of private solicitors inthe Court of Criminal Appeal in conjunctionwith the Grants Division;

� piloting and developing the Electronic BriefsPilot Project, making further cost savings andincreasing our efficiency;

� increasing the availability and usage ofinhouse video conferencing facilities;

� working with the Coalition Of AboriginalLegal Services to improve the range andquality of services available to Aboriginalpeople;

� negotiating an improved service levelagreement with the Public Defenders Office.

Client’s nameclearedHeuston (2003)NSW CCA 172Mr Heuston wasconvicted of serious

offences in 1994. He wassentenced to a lengthy termof imprisonment. He hasalways maintained his innocencebut lost an appeal against hisconvictions in 1995. Since1997 the indictable appealspractice has acted for himand sought a review of hiscase. It was our view that hehad been wrongly convicted.In 1999 an application for areview of the case was filed inthe Supreme Court. It wasrefused in 2000. Mr Heustonhad always said that thepolice involved in his casehad behaved corruptly. In2001 the Police IntegrityCommission (PIC)commenced a hearing intothe Major Crime Squad North(Operation Florida). A numberof the police involved in theprosecution of Mr Heustonwere members of the squad.

It became apparent that thePIC was in possession ofsignificant evidence of corruptbehaviour of police involved inMr Heuston’s case. A numberof them admitted to behavingcorruptly over many years.Using evidence from theOperation Florida hearings,Legal Aid made an applicationfor a review of Mr Heuston’sconvictions in 2002.

In 2003, the AttorneyGeneral concluded that therewas unease about theconvictions and referred thecase to the Court of CriminalAppeal (CCA) to allow for asecond appeal to be heard.

The CCA allowed theappeal and ordered a retrial.After the Court of CriminalAppeal allowed the appealand ordered a new trial, theDirector of Public Prosecutions(DPP) decided that theproceedings would bediscontinued. The decision ofthe DPP brought the longfight by Mr Heuston to clearhis name to a successfulconclusion.

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80

74.2%3.7%

17.4%2.9%

11.7%

32.8%9.5%

59.3%47.7%

7.3%

2.5%13.7%

34.7%

30.3%17.8%

2.6%

Who our clients are—Criminal Law Division Sydney Region

Wollongong Newcastle RegionRural NSW Region


Born in NESC*With Dependants

On C’Wealth BenefitWomen (Total)

Women Rural NSWAge Under 18 Years

Age 18-25 YearsAge 26-40 YearsAge 41-60 Years



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22 Legal Aid NSW

Grants DivisionThis division includes Operations, Policy, Panels and ProfessionalStandards, Records and the Legal Aid Review Committee

Our clientsThis year the Grants Division received 20,979applications:

� 8,217 applications for legal aid in criminal law � 11,659 applications for legal aid in family law� 1,103 applications for legal aid in civil law

Grants Division staff administered 30,513 dutyappearances conducted by private practitioners atcourts in NSW.

Our people� The Grants Division has been integrated into

the Commission and will continue to ensureconsistency in determining Legal Aidapplications. This year, we continued toformalise the structure of the Division, buildingand improving on the Division’s operationaldevelopment;

� Legal education was a primary focus of theDivision for inhouse staff and privatepractitioners. A joint Family Law and GrantsDivision Care and Protection Conference washeld in Newcastle on 3 May 2003;

� Grants staff also enhanced and broadened theirskills through training in Family, Civil, Criminal,and Veterans’ Law and in E-Lodgement.

Our organisation� The Panels and Professional Standards Branch

completed the selection process for theChildren’s Crime panel. The panel will beoperational on 1 September 2003;

� Enhancements to the Panels website in 2003,made in conjunction with the Commission’s

Information Management and TechnologyBranch, have streamlined applicationprocedures for future panels by allowingpractitioners to complete an expression ofinterest online and improving electroniccommunication;

� A number of important policy reviews werecompleted with a view to improving ouradministration procedures and practices inareas including fee options for criminal lawmatters, travel and accommodation expenses,criminal cost recovery procedures, and review ofmerit determinations in family law.

Our partners� Foundation work was completed for the

remaining panels including a streamlinedservice agreement and selection process. Draftpractice standards were settled inhouse for theCourt of Criminal Appeal, Veterans’ Law andthe Child’s Representation Panels;

� Participation in family law E-Lodgementincreased, particularly amongst privatepractitioners. In May and June 2003 requestsfrom private lawyers exceeded the numbersfrom inhouse lawyers. By June 2003, 264 firmswere registered for E-Lodgement, and 40% ofassigned family law legal aid applications werereceived electronically;

� A range of papers and pamphlets were madeavailable online on issues including CostRecovery in Criminal Matters, and Tips andTechniques on Interviewing Children.

� Information on fee scales and upcomingCommission conferences and events was madeavailable online.

Electronic Lodgements 2002–2003

Grants issued for $80 paymentPayments made

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

June

May

April

Num

ber

of lo

dgem

ents

Comparison of average days taken to process Family Law applications between

E-Lodgement and paper applications2002–2003

Appl

icat

ions

PaperElectronic lodgement

Determination of inhouse applications

Determination of assigned applications

Payment of inhouse invoices

Payment of assigned invoices

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50Days

Electroniclodgements

increased by594% over the

2002–2003period

There was an increase inelectronically lodgedapplications after we

introduced an $80 payment topractitioners lodging

a successful application inCommonwealth Family Law.

0

300

600

900

1,200

1,500

Jan

Feb

Mar Apr

May Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

2001–2002

2002–2003

Increase in electronic requestsreceived in

2001–2002 and 2002–2003

Num

ber

of r

eque

sts

E-Lodgement project commenced

Request: initial application for legal aid or request to extend an existing grant of aid

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80

Sydney RegionWollongong/Newcastle Region

Rural NSW RegionInter-State/OverseasInterpreter Required

With DependantsOn C’Wealth Benefit

Women (Total)Women Rural NSW

Age Under 18 YearsAge 18-25 YearsAge 26-40 YearsAge 41-60 Years


Who our clients are—Grants Division73.1%

4.7%

18.8%3.4%

14.5%29.0%

18.2%

61.2%45.7%

9.8%

9.9% 15.9%

47.3%25.9%

7.6%

2.5%

Born in NESC*


1 May 2003 The base rate for professional fees in criminal law work rose from $110 to $120 per hour.

1 May 2003 The rate for duty work rose to $120 per hour.

1 May 2003 Fee rates for practitioners in mental health matters increased to $120 per hour.

1 April 2003 Increase to the hourly rate for practitioners conducting work in respect of entitlement orassessment claims under Part II of the Veterans’ Entitlements Act 1986 (Cth) (the VE Act)to $120 per hour ($150 per hour for advocacy work). Also the hourly rate for Part II VEAct appeals from the Administrative Appeals Tribunal rose to $120 ($150 for advocacywork) in circumstances where the Commission’s lower civil law fee rate applies.

1 April 2003 New $80 Electronic Lodgement fee available for family law applications.

1 Oct 2002 The rate for Commonwealth family law work was increased to $120 per hour.

1 July 2002 Fee rates for practitioners in mental health matters increased to $110 per hour.

1 July 2002 Base fee rates for practitioners in all criminal law matters increased to $110 per hour(where an hourly rate did not apply, rates were increased by 10 per cent).

1 July 2002 Fee rates for practitioners in State family law matters increased to $110 per hour.

1 July 2002 Fee rates for practitioners’ duty work increased to $110 per hour.

1 July 2002 Fee rates for practitioners in civil law matters increased by 10% but with differentincreases according to the classification of civil law matters, where the lower rate applies.

Fee enhancementsThe Grants Division implemented a record number of fee enhancements during the year.

In addition a new Electronic Lodgement Fee was introduced for Commonwealth family law applicationswhere an $80 fee is paid to private practitioners who lodge successful applications electronically. Ten separate increases in fees paid to private practitioners were made across criminal, civil and familylaw. Listed below are the enhancements:

The Grants Divisionimplemented a record number of fee enhance-ments during theyear

Key improvement areaA number of assumptions were made about the suitability of E-Lodgement across all areas of law in which the

Grants Division processes legal aid applications.Significant challenges in relation to theappropriateness of E-Lodgement have arisen inthe area of Local Court crime. We are looking atwhether E-Lodgement is going to be the best practiceapproach to processing legal aid applications inthis area.

The year aheadIn the next 12 months the Grants Division will:� create an internet portal for private practitioners

to allow the Commission and privatepractitioners to communicate more effectivelyand provide real business improvements, costand time savings;

� make more information electronically available,including practical legal training and discussionpapers;

� finalise private practitioner panels in Care andProtection, Court of Criminal Appeal, Veterans’Law and Child’s Representation; and

� increase the use of E-Lodgement for family law,and introduce E-Lodgement for criminal lawmatters.


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24 Legal Aid NSW

Our servicesThe Division has the equivalent of 253 full timestaff including lawyers and other support staff.These staff are based at 20 regional locationsacross the State (see map on back cover) and inthe central office in Sydney. Regional officesprovide the full range of legal services includinglegal information, advice and minor assistance,community education, mediation, duty solicitorand committal services and representation incase matters in Local, District and SupremeCourts, Federal Magistrates, Family andChildren’s Courts and at Mental HealthMagistrates hearings. The Division is alsoresponsible for liaising with LawAccess NSW—ajustice sector joint project that has responsibilityfor delivering legal information, advice andreferral services across the State.

Regional Office Operations

Our clientsThis year staff in regional offices provided thefollowing services:

Family Law

� Information services provided to 32,938clients.

� Advice and minor assistance provided to17,625 clients.

� Community education (including divorceclasses) on 83 occasions at suburban andcountry locations.

Civil Law

� Information services provided to 52,403clients.

� Advice and minor assistance provided to13,042 clients.

� Representation in 418 new case grants.

Criminal law

� Information services provided to 23,565 clients. � Advice and minor assistance provided to

11,136 clients.� Representation in 23,716 new case grants.� Provided 29,767 duty services.

Key achievements of regional office staff thisyear included:

� providing greater inhouse family services topeople across New South Wales in areas suchas Bankstown, Parramatta, Gosford, Lismore,Tamworth, Dubbo and Wagga Wagga;

� providing extended outreach in family adviceand representation services to the SouthCoast of NSW from Nowra to Bega;

� targeting services to remote Aboriginalcommunities on the Far North Coast and inWestern NSW;

� consolidating civil outreach services to mostoffices in the Sydney metropolitan area;

� extending family law advice services inmetropolitan Sydney to areas such as NorthSydney;

� extending community legal educationsessions (eg divorce classes) in Sydneymetropolitan and country areas;

� maintaining high quality criminal lawservices at Local, District and Supreme Courtsacross the State;

� continuing to identify and address gaps inservices through service delivery planning ateach regional office;

� developing a mapping tool to easily identifythe catchment area of each regional officeand legal services offered by other agencies ineach area.

Our people� Solicitor advocate Bill Sandilands was

awarded the Public Service Medal foroutstanding service.

� Regional office staff completed specialistaccreditation in family and criminal lawincluding Debra Maher of the Children’sLegal Service at Parramatta who came first inthe children’s law section.

� The second addition of A Practitioner’s Guideto Criminal Law has been produced by theNSW Young Lawyers with contributions fromstaff in the Penrith office – Lester Fernandez,Angela Cook, Matthew Greenaway, Te’res Sia,Katrina Sheen and Chris Brown; and PatriciaCollins from the Wagga Wagga office.

� ATSI trainees have nearly completed theirtemporary employment at various regionaloffices and consideration is now being givento their permanent appointment.

� Staff and managers participated in a widerange of inhouse and private trainingprograms, improving their professional skillsand becoming better equipped to plan andrun Commission business.

Our organisationThe role of regional offices in the Commission’snew structure has been clarified ensuringeffective State-wide delivery of services in eachprogram of law—civil, family and crime.

Each regional office now has a service deliveryplan against which it must report for the currentyear.

Regional offices now have access to a mappingtool to identify their catchment areas andidentify legal resources and services offered ineach area and demographic information relevantto planning service delivery in each area.

Regional and Community Services DivisionThis division forms part of the Criminal, Family and Civil Law Programs and includes 20 regionaloffices, Community Legal Education, Publications, Client Assessment and Referral, the CommunityLegal Centres Funding Program and the Women’s Domestic Violence Court Assistance Program

Staff in this division provided

informationservices to

108,906 people— an 8%

increase over last year

� An electronic diary system first developed inthe Newcastle office is now being introducedto each regional office and head office,offering opportunities for increased efficiencyover paper-based diaries.

� Regional offices have identified and helped toextract statistical information from the LegalAid computer system (LA Office) whichenabled us to better identify workloads andtrends and hence more effectively plan forthe future.

� Regional offices at Penrith, Dubbo, Gosfordand Liverpool have moved into newaccommodation offering better workingconditions for staff and a more professionalenvironment better equipped to offerimproved services to clients.

Our partnersThe Division developed a model of cooperativelegal service delivery aimed at providing moreeffective legal services for people across NSW.The model is being developed in cooperationwith other service delivery providers includingcommunity legal centres, Aboriginal LegalServices and private lawyers doing pro bonowork.

All regional offices continued to forge close linkswith private firms in their catchment areaswhich are prepared to provide services either atLegal Aid rates or on a pro bono basis. Someoffices, such as Tamworth, have offeredCommunity Legal Education in criminal law toprivate practitioners in their area.

This year, recognising the important andcomplementary role played by other agencies inthe justice system, staff in the division:

� worked closely with agencies such as theProbation and Parole Service, MERIT teams,court liaison psychiatric nurses, communityaid panels and court staff;

� developed close working relationships withAboriginal communities to improve access tolegal services for indigenous people, egWagga Wagga Legal Aid Office has signed aStatement of Cooperation with the CoalitionOf Aboriginal Legal Services (COALS); and

� participated in community events that informthe community about Legal Aid services, egthe Henty Field Day in Wagga Wagga and theAgquip Field Day in Tamworth.

Key improvement areaTo address gaps in legal service deliveryacross New South Wales, particularly torural and regional residents, we are

developing a Cooperative Legal Service DeliveryModel (CLSDM). The model is based oncooperative planning of legal services andpotential partnerships to ensure that people,wherever they live, have access to a wider rangeof legal services.

The year aheadKey initiatives for the coming year include:

� developing and piloting the Cooperative LegalService Delivery Model (CLSDM);

� developing a mapping tool for servicedelivery planning;

� completing the rollout of the e-diaries project;� consolidating the ATSI trainee positions in

regional offices;� expanding the use of audio visual

conferencing facilities at regional offices forboth inhouse and private solicitors doinglegal aid work; and

� working with other justice agencies to enableeffective planning for initiatives impacting onour services, eg temporary closure ofBankstown court, renovations to Blacktowncourt and the building of new courts andchange of location of existing courts.


0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80

54.5%16.4%

27.7%1.3%

3.3%13.7%

12.8%61.5%

38.1%11.4%

7.7%27.5%

43.0%18.5%

3.2%4.0%

Who our clients are—Regional Division Sydney Region

Wollongong/Newcastle Region Rural NSW Region

Inter-State/Overseas Interpreter Required

With Dependants On C’Wealth Benefit

Women (Total) Women Rural NSW

Age Under 18 Years Age 18-25 YearsAge 26-40 Years Age 41-60 Years

Age Over 60 Years Aboriginal/Torres Strait Islander

Born in NESC*



Each regionaloffice now has aservice deliveryplan

26 Legal Aid NSW

This program draws together a range ofservices. Diverse in scope, they exist to ensurewe meet the information needs of the generalpublic as well as provide specialist support toour most disadvantaged clients.

Community Legal Education (CLE)moved up the agendaIn 2002–2003, the commitment of the Commissionto the provision of professional and strategiccommunity legal education across NSW wasreflected in the creation of a new position withinthe Regional & Community Services Division,Community Legal Education (CLE) Coordinator.

Since the appointment of the CLE Coordinator,three major developments have moved theCommission toward substantial improvement inits delivery of CLE and will also contribute tosignificant improvements in our communicationsboth internally and with our clients. Workcommenced on:

� a long-term Community Legal EducationStrategic Plan incorporating national bestpractice standards for CLE in a communitydevelopment framework;

� a review of our budgeting and resourcing ofCLE to find ways of clarifying and streamliningprocesses for staff wishing to conduct CLE; and

� designing an electronic informationmanagement system for CLE which will be atool for the planning, delivery and evaluation

of CLE by Commission staff as well as offeringonline registration and a calendar of events tothe general public via the Commission’sexternal internet site.

Services to children were greatlyimproved this yearThis year we introduced a Children’s CourtAssistance Program that will ensure children andyoung people have better access to legal services.

The scheme provides a roster of trained youthworkers to work with young people and theirfamilies on their court day, as well as before andafter the court appearance.

Children’s Court Assistance Schemes are auspicedby Community Legal Centres at Lidcombe andCampbelltown Children’s Courts, Gosford/WoyWoy/Wyong and Wollongong/Port Kembla LocalCourts.

Funding of $160,000 per year for three years wasprovided by the NSW Law Society’s PublicPurpose Fund.

We provided moreresources to thecommunity This year, our PublicationsUnit distributed a recordnumber of publications—atotal of 336,868. Continuinghigh demand and informalfeedback suggest that mostdisadvantaged communitiesand small agencies thatrepresent these communitiesstill require hard copyinformation despite itsavailability online. Demandfor our publications, although always steady, wasstepped up markedly by the release of Have youcrashed your car? What to do about propertydamage—a brochure for uninsured peopleinvolved in a motor vehicle accident. Thebrochure was launched in Law Week as part ofCampbelltown Car Day at Campbelltown LocalCourt. As a result of excellent media coverage andmarketing, we received 3,846 requests for thisbrochure in a short period of time.

Publications distributed

This year, our Publications Unit focused ontranslating key information into communitylanguages, recognising the difficulties people fromculturally diverse communities experience inaccessing easy-to-understand legal information.We translated information for Chinese, Arabic andVietnamese speakers attending local court andupdated Do you have a legal problem? in seven

Regional and Community Services DivisionCommunity Information and Program Support

Right: DistributionsCoordinator, Caryn Zeller,displays new multilingual

resources.

A new programwill ensure

children andyoung people

have betteraccess to legal

services

languages. In total, 20,793multilingualpublications weredistributed in2002–2003.

Improving internaland externalcommunicationsstrategies hasbecome a key focus.Work began thisyear on runningfocus groups andconsulting with staffacross the organi-sation on theircommunicationneeds. The results

were used by IM&T to purchase new systemsand to ensure that staff concerns were addressedin all new developments.

Social workers assisted more peoplein regional areasSocial workers in our Client Assessment andReferral Unit excelled this year in meeting theircommitment to make their services moreaccessible to regional offices and their clients.2003 saw the establishment of regular clinicdays at a number of regional offices. InWollongong, social workers provided either apsychosocial report or a sentencing submissionfor clients involved in criminal matters. Thereports resulted in a non-custodial sentence inover 66% of matters where the client was facinga custodial sentence and 16% of clients receiveda reduced sentence.

Two Children’s Wishes Clinics were alsoestablished, one at Newcastle and one at CoffsHarbour. Children who are being represented bya legal aid solicitor in contact or residence

disputes are interviewed for a children’s wishesreport. This report assisted in bringing aboutresolution at the interim hearing stage in 75% ofmatters referred to Client Assessment. A similarclinic was established at Coffs Harbour whichcoincides with the Family Court and FederalMagistrates Circuit which visit the area fourtimes per year.

A new part-time position was established so thatcivil lawyers have a key contact person at theunit to prepare psychosocial reports and makereferrals for civil law clients.

The Client Assessment and Referral servicesprovided at Penrith in care matters haveundergone significant changes in the past year.A new referral criteria has been developedwhich means only children aged nine and undermay be referred where the solicitor requiresassistance to determine the best interests forthat child.

The year aheadIn a number of exciting initiatives staff will:� extend the provision of targeted effective

community legal education to wider areasacross NSW by involving more regionaloffices and practice areas in the planning anddelivery of CLE as well as working moreclosely with other stakeholders;

� work closely with the newly created Policyand Planning Section and other sections ofthe Commission to effectively implement therecommendations of the communicationsimprovement plan for the Commission;

� provide all Commission lawyers with on-the-spot referral information for their client’snon-legal needs by employing a newCommunity Liaison and Referral Officer,commencing August 2003; and

� review the new Children’s Court AssistanceProgram towards the end of 2003-2004 withthe view towards further expansion to othercentres.

Publicationsdistributed1997–2003

0

50,000

100,000

150,000

200,000

250,000

300,000

350,000

2002

-200

320

01-2

002

2000

-200

119

99-2

000

1998

-199

919

97-1

998

Publ

icat

ions

dis

trib

uted

Mother andson notseparated –illuminatingreport helps

Ms Y had lived in a defactorelationship for about 25years. Her defacto partnerdied after he suffered asingle stab wound, inflictedby Ms Y. At the time of theincident both Ms Y and thedeceased were extremelyintoxicated.

In March 2003 Mr JusticeBuddin convicted Ms Y ofmanslaughter and placedher on a four-year goodbehaviour bond. In doing sothe Judge went to greatlengths to outline thedifficult life Ms Y had hadand the consequences oflong-term domesticviolence. He quotedextensively from a reportprepared by DanielleCastles, Manager of theCommission’s ClientAssessment and ReferralSection. The Judge said thathe found the report“particularly illuminating”and of considerableassistance.

The report also detailedthe negative impact that MsY’s custody would haveupon her five-year old son.One of the most positiveaspects of the decision ofMr Justice Buddin was thatMs Y’s and her son were notto be separated.

Left: Coordinators Vik Craig and Stan Small discusseducation options with twoyoung women at LidcombeChildren’s Court as part ofthe new Children’s CourtAssistance Program.



Cas

e st

udy

28 Legal Aid NSW

Community Legal Centres Funding ProgramThe Legal Aid Commission administers the State and Commonwealth CommunityLegal Centres Funding program for 32 Community Legal Centres throughout NSW

The number of people

assisted by CLCs increased

by 13% in2002–2003

Community Legal Centres (CLCs) areindependent, non-profit organisations thatprovide a range of legal services to address thespecific needs of disadvantaged sectors of thecommunity.

Our clientsThis year, CLCs introduced a uniform client surveysystem to measure client satisfaction. The surveywill assist in directing resources to best serveclients.

In 2002–2003 CLCs:� provided information and advice to more than

85,000 clients;� commenced new casework for more than

8,300 clients;� appeared in court for over 300 clients;� undertook more than 1,200 Community Legal

Education sessions and projects across NSW;and

� contributed to 430 law reform projects.

Significant cases included:Water rights in future water markets

The rights of Indigenous communities andresidential consumers have received animportant boost in future water markets and inthe establishment of a national system for thetrading of entitlements to use bulk water.

The Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC)successfully argued that the trading system mustmake some allowance for the interests of ‘thirdparties’. This would mean that parties notdirectly involved in the trade of waterentitlements, such as indigenous communitiesand residential consumers, should be permitted avoice in water trade negotiations.

Finance/mortgage refunds

The Consumer Credit Legal Centre (CCLC) actedfor a number of clients in matters againstfinance/mortgage brokers and also produced amajor report for the Australian Securities and

Investment Commission (ASIC) on thesame topic. Most cases involvedcomplaints about the charging ofexcessive fees, the charging ofunreasonable fees when the loan didnot proceed and/or the arranging ofinappropriate loans. In most casesCCLC was able to secure a refund ofmost or all of the fees paid to thebroker (usually amounting to severalthousand dollars charged in addition tothe lenders commission).

Key achievements included:Providing resources for clients

The Combined CLC Group updated itsweb site at www.nswclc.org.au adding

hot links. CLCs are also publishers of a numberof publications and information kits. Keyexamples in 2002–2003 included the IndependentSocial Security Handbook published by the NSWWelfare Rights Centre (WRC).

The handbook covers all Social Securitypayments and is a resource for community andgovernment workers to assist people with socialsecurity questions and problems. In 2002–2003Welfare Rights launched the fourth edition onlineand will also be producing CD-ROM and intranetversions. The web address is: www.welfare rights.org.au/issh/

The Public Interest Advocacy Centre launchedtheir 2nd edition of Working the System, a guideto advocacy for consumers and communities.

The Women’s Legal Resource Centre launchedthe Know Your Legal Rights Game Kit, a set ofgames designed and created by young Aboriginalwomen about their legal rights and improvingtheir knowledge about the legal system.

Our peopleCLCs are dealing with the issue of ‘burnout’ oftheir staff. Mark McDiarmid, Solicitor at the BlueMountains CLC, conducted research intoburnout, with the consequent loss of experiencedstaff, and ways to identify and address this issue.Mark gave a comprehensive and in depthaddress on burn out at the CLCs NationalConference in September 2002. Strategies will bedeveloped in 2003–2004 to combat this issue.

Our organisationNo new CLCs were funded during 2002–2003.Key initiatives this year included:

� introducing a triennial Service Agreementbetween CLCs, the State and theCommonwealth. This agreement gives CLCsgreater funding certainty and enables longerterm planning of service delivery; and

� implementing a new electronic informationsystem (CLSIS) that will provide moreaccurate and timely financial and performancereporting.

Also, this year, CLCs started to measure activitiesagainst new and enhanced Service Standards toensure they are providing high quality services.

The year aheadA joint State/Commonwealth review of the CLCprogram in NSW is envisaged to commence in2003–2004.

ResourcesThe CLC Program received $4,778,534 from theCommonwealth Government, $4,039,464 fromthe State Government and $746,500 from theSolicitors Trust Account/Public Purpose Fund.For details see page 76.

In a world first for electronic publishing,

online information about social security

became available to the New South Wales public.

Below, Catalina Loyola,Welfare Rights, quickly

updates online.

The program aims to assist women who arevictims of Domestic Violence to access andnavigate the legal and judicial systems. It isfunded by the State government and consists of34 Women’s Domestic Violence CourtAssistance Schemes (WDVCASs) servicing 52courts across NSW. The program also funds aTraining and Resource Unit, which providesscheme workers and volunteers with specialisedtraining in all aspects of court supportassistance for victims of Domestic Violence.

The schemes assist women with court support,information on obtaining Apprehended DomesticViolence Orders (ADVOs) and appropriatereferrals to other services that may assist them eghousing services, counselling or material aid.Scheme staff also undertake communitydevelopment and education activities to raiseawareness of the issue of Domestic Violence intheir local communities.

Our clientsIn 2002–2003, the program assisted 30,188women, an increase of 21.9% on last year.

A particular focus was creating employmentopportunities and improving services toAboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women andwomen living in rural communities.

In early 2002 community consultationcommenced within the Northern Rivers Regionof NSW, regarding the establishment of a modelcalled the Pilot Cluster Model. This model ofoutreach-based service delivery has increasedthe coverage of the Lismore WDVCAS fromLismore Court only, to an additional sevencourts at Casino, Kyogle, Ballina, Byron Bay,Tweed Heads, Murwillumbah andMullumbimby. The Northern Rivers WDVCAScommenced service delivery in October 2002and was officially launched in April 2003. ThePilot not only increased service delivery for ATSIand rural women living in the Northern Riversarea, but also provided an employmentopportunity to the ATSI community when theDepartment of Industrial Relations granted anexemption so the position of AssistantCoordinator could be made an IdentifiedAboriginal Position.

Our organisationIn 2002–2003 the Program granted $3.3m to the34 schemes, including additional funds to coverCPI and the Social and Community Servicesaward increase.

Our partnersThe program works closely with many otheragencies, especially at a local level through

scheme networks. Strong partnerships havebeen formed with the Department for Women,Attorney General’s Department, particularlyLocal Courts and the Violence Against WomenUnit, NSW Police and community organisationssuch as Immigrant Womens Speakout and thestate-wide network of Community LegalCentres. This year staff from the WDVCAPparticipated in the International Women’s Daymarch and rally in Sydney, walking alongsidemany other community and governmentorganisations equally committed to raisingawareness of the issues affecting women.

Providing opportunities for networking

Since 1998 the Program has hosted an annualconference to provide domestic violence workerswith vital information and support for theirwork. The conference provides a uniqueopportunity for scheme workers to strengthentheir networks with partners from otheragencies. This year, the conference was held on31 July–1 August at the YWCA in Sydney. Theconference theme: Domestic Violence is a ChildProtection Issue: Government and CommunityResponses invited vibrant discussion from the139 participants who represented a range ofcommunity and government agencies.

The year aheadWe will review and improve crucial managementtools, including the service agreement, WDVCAPPolicies and Procedures and the DomesticViolence Solicitor Scheme.

We will also produce a best practice guide forWDVCASs, providing a toolkit that will assistthem to improve service delivery to their clients.

ResourcesThe State Government allocated $3,132,530.42for this program. For details of grants see page 77.


Women’s Domestic Violence Court AssistanceProgram (WDVCAP)We administer a program that is assisting women with domestic violence issues

Women assisted by the WDVCAP Program

0

5,000

10,000

15,000

20,000

25,000

30,000

35,000

2002

-200

320

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002

2000

-200

119

99-2

000

Below: Brian Sandland,Director, Regional andCommunity Services andSohret Hussein, ProjectOfficer, at the launch of the Northern RiversWomen’s Domestic ViolenceCourt Assistance Scheme.


The program has increased its services to women by

33.7% over the past fouryears

The Northern Star, 1 May 2003

NEW SCHEME: Legal Aid officersBrian Sandland and Sohret Husseinhope the launch of the NorthernRivers Domestic Violence courtAssisstance Scheme will providevicitims of domestic violence betteraccess to court assisstance

30 Legal Aid NSW

Business planning and improvementThe primary objectives of the Business Planningand Improvement Branch are corporate planning,involving analysis, monitoring and reviewingoperational performance to ensure that all aspectsof the Commission’s operations achieve qualityand efficiency improvements through organisationalchange.

There were two main performance highlights thisyear. The first was the timeliness of operationalreports and analysis to senior management,enabling informed decision-making at a corporatelevel.

In December 2002 we implemented acomprehensive rolling five-year internal auditprogram that will deliver 10 reviews each year.Four internal audit reviews were completed thisyear and their recommendations implemented.

The year aheadWe will aim to improve the efficiency andeffectiveness of business processes by:� improving the corporate management reporting

requirement; and � completing the 2003-2004 internal audit

program to achieve greater organisationalefficiency.

Financial servicesThe Branch was strengthened by the appointmentof the Director Corporate Finance, as well as newappointments to the senior positions ofManagement Accountant and FinancialAccountant.

During 2002–2003, the Financial Services Branchcontinued to implement the recommendations ofan independent external review undertaken in2001–2002. Particular emphasis was placed on the

review of the internal processes of the Branch,such as major accruals.

The Branch’s participation in the review ofcontributions and payment policy will lead toimproved management of the Commission’sdebtors in the years to come.

In addition, the Branch commenced importantprojects such as the upgrade of its core financialsystem, automation of its costing processes andthe electronic delivery of remittance advices,which will be completed in the 2003-2004financial year.

The year aheadThe Branch will focus on service delivery to itscustomers. Of particular importance will beimprovements to the financial informationavailable to managers across the Commission andthe completion of projects commenced in2002–2003.

Human resource managementThe major achievements for the HRM Branch thisyear were:� significant progress in achieving job evaluation

accreditation for the Commission;� implementing a comprehensive staff

development program;� implementing Electronic Self Service for staff in

relation to a range of personnel matters such asonline leave applications; and

� successful completion of the “WithoutPrejudice” staff survey, an independent surveythat sought the views of staff on every aspectof their work as part of better communicationwithin the workplace.

The year aheadHRM will develop and implement:� a comprehensive recruitment strategy;� a career development and performance

management system; and � a range of strategies arising out of the “Without

Prejudice” staff survey.

Information management andtechnologyOver the past year IM&T has improved thecomputer infrastructure and services toCommission staff. Some of the highlights were:

� roll out of new telephone system throughoutthe Commission;

� implementation of a new HelpDesk system toimprove the support services to theCommission and to provide automatichardware and software audit facilities;

� a core IT skills project to ensure all employeeshave access to training to bring their skills to arecognised level;

Business Services DivisionThis division provides support services across the Commission

Web developer AlisonYoung consults with other

staff on ways to improve ITsystems and meet the

individual needs of users.


� redevelopment of the Intranet site, withgreater emphasis on improving access toinformation, policies and procedures, andproviding services on line;

� participation in “whole of justice” sectorprojects designed to increase efficiency andeffectiveness in the electronic transfer ofinformation; and

� introduction of a range of online (Internetand Extranet) services supporting bothinternal and external legal practitioners.

The year aheadIn 2003-2004, the emphasis will be onimplementing electronic service delivery bothinternally and externally. The implementation ofa web content management system will enablethe development of electronic services to clientsand the general public, and fulfill theCommission’s requirements for the governmentservices agenda. Initiatives will include:

� redeveloping and extending our externalwebsite;

� improving the Intranet as the maincommunication medium of the Commission,to enable access to information andCommission systems;

� providing online training and development(e.learning) services designed to deliver awide range of content across any bandwidthand to PCs, laptops and other technologyimplemented in the Commission.

The Commission is also part of a National LegalAid initiative to source a new practice, grantsand document management system. There isconsiderable preparation for the migration to anew system and this will be a focus for the next12 months.

Library servicesThe Library provided legal source material forCommission staff, focusing this year on:� increasing access from the desktop to a wider

range of electronic products;� adding new links for research and monitoring

to the library’s existing intranet site; and� providing training for lawyers in the use of

online research services.

The year aheadWe will:� place the library’s catalogue ‘First’ onto the

intranet;� review and update the library’s intranet

content and form a strategy for ongoingdevelopment; and

� provide regular email bulletins with newdevelopments and tips on how to use existingservices with telephone support for staffexperiencing problems using them.

Operational supportInitiatives carried out by Operational Supportduring the year resulted in a number of

improvements for our clients, our people, ourorganisation and our partners.

Our main focus was regional expansion. Newaccommodation standards implemented at ourDubbo, Penrith, Liverpool, Gosford and Nowraoffices provided more ambient and comfortableclient service areas. Staff accommodation alsoimproved with specially designed officefurniture.

Additional space was successfully negotiated atCampbelltown, Lismore, Wagga Wagga andTamworth with expanded services andadditional facilities created for the AlternativeDispute Resolution Program. At Dubbo andCampbelltown, the facilities were expanded toallow ATSI staff to interview their clients in aninformal environment.

Other accommodation highlights included newaccommodation for the Committals and Grantsareas within head office to improve the supportprovided to our legal partners as well asimproving staff office space.

We also completed a motor vehicle fleet review,which will result in a new Commission-wide carfleet, the result of a shared service opportunitynegotiated with the Attorney General’sDepartment.

Waste reduction and purchasing policy

An increased dependence on personalcomputers and staff access and proficiency hasassisted in our waste remaining static since2001, which represents an achievement giventhe increase in staff numbers.

Our current WRAPP plan has an emphasis oneducation and monitoring to further achievewaste avoidance.

The year aheadIn 2003–2004, we will open a permanent officein Nowra, as well as redesign new facilities inWollongong, Newcastle, Campbelltown,Tamworth and Wagga Wagga.

Facilities for staff will improve with thephotocopy/ fax replacement program that willbe implemented during 2003–2004.

Key improvement areasOverall, Business Services will focus on:

� improving organisational reporting for allmanagement;

� streamlining business processes to externalvendors;

� developing a comprehensive recruitmentstrategy to attract and multi-skill entry-levelstaff; and

� implementing a career development andperformance management system.

Help Desk Calls2002 to 2003

0

500

1,000

1,500

2,000

2,500

3,000

Calls outstanding

Calls finalised

Calls received

June

03

Jan

03

Num

ber

of C

alls

July

02

Over 90% ofhelp desk callswere handledquickly andsatisfactorily


32 Legal Aid NSW

Families and children in Children’sCourt care matters The Children’s Care and Protection Legal Serviceis part of our Family and Civil Law Division.Legal services for both adults and childreninvolved in the State’s care and protectionsystem are provided throughout the State byinhouse lawyers as well as private lawyersfunded by Legal Aid. Both inhouse and privatesolicitors might act as duty solicitor in theChildren’s Court and/or as legal representativein on-going care matters. Both inhouse andprivate lawyers represent a mix of adults (suchas parents, carers and other interested adults)and children in these matters.

In 2002–2003, the Service worked closely withother areas of the Commission to ensure thatprivate lawyers doing care work were keptinvolved and informed about the latestdevelopments in the care and protectionjurisdiction. This included:

� organising, in conjunction with the GrantsDivision, a one-day conference on the careand protection jurisdiction in Newcastle,attended by more than 60 inhouse and privatelawyers; and

� assisting the Grants Division in thedevelopment of practice standards and feescales for solicitors involved in care matters,with a view to the implementation of StateCare Panels.

The Service has made it a priority to establishstrong external links with other agencies in theinterests of clients. Over the past 12 months,lawyers participated in the Children’s CourtAdvisory Committee, the Children’s Court ClinicAdvisory Committee, the Law Society’sChildren’s Legal Issues Committee and workinggroups involving representatives from keyGovernment Departments and communityorganisations.

In the year ahead, inhouse lawyers will:

� work closely with our partners, and inparticular with the Children’s Court, to ensuregreater access to legal information, adviceand services by adults and children who havecare and protection issues but who are eithernot yet involved in Children’s Court careproceedings or who decide to representthemselves in care proceedings;

� produce, with the input of the Department ofCommunity Services, the third update for ourextensive Children’s Court Care MattersPractice Manual;

� provide assistance to the Grants Division inthe establishment of State Care Panels; and

� commence a program of regular continuinglegal education on issues in the carejurisdiction for both inhouse and privatepractitioners.

New duty lawyer service inParramattaThanks to an exciting new scheme, peopleattending Parramatta Family Court now have theservices of a duty lawyer. The Scheme started on5 August 2002 with two Legal Aid family lawyersproviding assistance to self-represented litigants.

For some years, Legal Aid family lawyers haveprovided duty solicitor services at Local Courtsand Local Court (Family Matters) in the CBD.However, the Family Court (and the newlycreated Federal Magistrates Service) has not hadthe benefit of this service. With the numbers oflitigants in person both within the Family Courtand the Federal Magistrates Court increasing,current estimates place the number of litigantswithout representation (during at least one partof court proceedings), at approximately 40%.

An important benefit of the scheme can bedemonstrated by the large number of mattersthat are resolved on a final basis with theassistance of a duty solicitor. With the assistanceof the duty solicitor, a client has the opportunityto be assisted by legal advice which mayotherwise have been unavailable to them atcourt. The parties avoid all the associatedpersonal cost and stress of ongoing litigation andthe Court saves both time and cost by way ofearly resolution.

The scheme has also received high praise fromthe bench. One Federal Court Magistrate hasreferred to the new Pilot Duty Solicitor Schemeservicing the Family Court and FederalMagistrates Court at Parramatta as "a judge'snirvana" and other judicial officers and courtstaff have been equally enthusiastic.

Our partnersWe developed close working relationships with other agencies toachieve better results for our most disadvantaged clients

Peopleattending

ParramattaFamily Court

now have theservices of a

duty lawyer

At the launch of the scheme in August (L to R):

Justice David Collier,Frances Neilsen (Legal Aid)

and Federal Magistrate Judy Ryan.

Photo courtesy of Family Court Parramatta

P A R T N E R S

Aboriginal veterans and ex-servicewomenOur Veterans’ Advocacy Service (VAS) madeconsiderable progress this year in establishingstrong networks within the Aboriginal warveterans and ex-servicewomen’s communities.Many of these communities had never heard ofthe Service until this year.

Working with the Armidale and Inverell Ex-Servicewomen’s Associations, advocates wereinvited to provide a post Anzac Day seminarconcerning veterans’ entitlements for ex-servicewomen. Women from Armidale andsurrounding areas including Inverell, GlennInnes and Bingara attended the seminar and/orsought individual advice regarding theirentitlements.

In partnership with the Aboriginal and TorresStrait Islander Veterans and Services Association(ATSIVSA), veterans advocates significantlyexpanded advice and minor assistance servicesprovided to Aboriginal veterans’ and theirdependants. VAS has doubled the number ofAboriginal clients assisted this year compared tolast year.

In recognition of their contribution to pursuingthe entitlements of Aboriginal veterans,advocates, Jodie Buchanan and AnastasiaToliopoulos were invited by the Aboriginal andTorres Strait Islander Veterans’ and ServicesAssociation to attend the 2003 Submariners'Conference at Darling Harbour for past andpresent serving members. Opportunities fornetworking were invaluable.

Community partnershipsThroughout the year, Legal Aid employeesteamed up with other legalservice providers to providelegal information to the publicat a number of importantcommunity events. One suchday was Sunday 7 July – theNational Aboriginal andIslander Day of Celebration(NAIDOC) when HolroydCouncil organised a festival inthe beautiful native bush ofCentral Gardens in Merrylands.

Hundreds of people arrived ona warm sunny day to learnmore about indigenous people,their history, culture, and

artistic expression. They were greeted withmany positive images of the indigenouscommunity.

Legal Aid joined hands with LawAccess and theMacquarie Legal Centre at a stall in the mainarena, where Paul Hayes, Bora Touch, JohnMoratelli, Loris Scahill and Tim Smith did abrisk trade in pamphlets and quick advice.

Working with the private professionGrants Division staff focused on developing astrong partnership with the private profession,ensuring members of the profession understandthe benefits of lodging applications online. A key measure introduced to increase thenumber of firms working online was the new$80 fee, paid to practitioners who electronicallylodge an application that gets their client a grantof aid in a Commonwealth family law matter.

At a submariners conference, advocates Jodie Buchanan and Anastasia Toliopoulos joinAboriginal submariners in uniform – David Williams, ATSIVSA representative and Peter Wallen, Legal Aid client.

L to R: Jane Pritchard and Tina Higgins, LawAccess; Maria Girdler, Macquarie LegalCentre; John Moratelli and Bora Touch, Legal Aid, at aNAIDOC Day celebration.

Private lawyer, Kate Raftonfrom Parramatta law firm,Watson Stafford, lodges alegal aid application formonline on behalf of a client.“We’re very happy with thequick two-day turnaroundtime which means ourclients are not waiting longfor an answer.”


34 Legal Aid NSW

The Commission’s small deficit of $2.998 millionreflects a successful year where increaseddemand for services, especially in the CriminalLaw and Family Law Programs, has beenmanaged effectively.

The deficit results from an unexpected adverseadjustment of the Commission’s superannuationprovision ($4.127 million), arising from anactuarial assessment of the future liability, and achange in the accounting policy with respect tothe recognition of income from clientcontributions ($3.366 million, being a reductionin contribution income of $3.181 million and anincrease in other expenses of $0.185 million).Excluding these items, the Commission wouldhave achieved a surplus.

The Commission continues to experienceincreased complexity in cases in both thecriminal and family jurisdictions. Coupled withan increase in the number of parties beingrepresented in these jurisdictions, with multipleco-accused matters in the criminal jurisdictionand frequent separate representation of childrenand adults in the family jurisdiction, the cost ofcases is increasing.

In addition, changes to legislation in the criminaljurisdiction aimed to address specific issues suchas amendments to the Bail Act and the StandardMinimum Sentencing legislation increased theworkload of the Commission.

IncomeThe main sources of funding for the Commissionare the State and Commonwealth Governments,the Public Purpose Fund and contributions fromlegally aided persons.

In 2002–2003, the State Government provided$62.536 million ($52.071 million in 2001–2002),the Trustees of the Public Purpose Fund $15.965million ($13.839 million in 2001–2002) and theCommonwealth Government $43.691 million($41.513 million in 2001–2002).

Legally aided clients contributed $2.618 million($1.816 million in 2001–2002). However, achange in accounting policy by the Commissionto more accurately reflect contribution incomeresulted in a one-off negative adjustment tocontribution income of $3.181 million.Accordingly, the reported contribution incomefigure is $(0.563) million.

Included in the $62.536 million from the StateGovernment was supplementary funding of$0.500 million to complete the establishment ofthe Dubbo Regional Office, $0.056 million for theextension of the Parramatta Drug Court and$0.750 million to provide for salary increases for

workers employed under the Social andCommunity Services Award.

Capital funding of $2.147 million was providedfrom the State Asset Acquisition program to fundimprovements to the Commission’s officeaccommodation, the expansion of electroniclodgement and to commence the project toreplace the Commission’s core business system.Commonwealth funding of $1.823 million wasalso used for this purpose.

Included in the $2.147 million capital fundingfrom the State Government was supplementaryfunding of $0.385 million for capital worksassociated with the establishment of the DubboRegional Office.

ExpenditureThe Commission’s major expenses are employeerelated expenses associated with the in-housepractice ($50.516 million) and payments made toprivate practitioners for services to clients forwork undertaken on behalf of the Commission($52.704 million). The Commission delivers legalaid services in partnership with the private legalprofession.

AssetsAssets have reduced slightly due to anunexpected adverse adjustment of $4.127 millionin the Commission’s superannuation liability.This has reduced the existing prepaidsuperannuation asset to nil. In addition, thechange in accounting policy with respect tocontribution income reduced the receivablesfigure by $3.181 million. These decreases werepartially offset by an increase in the cash andplant and equipment held by the Commission.

LiabilitiesLiabilities have predominantly increased as aresult of the unexpected adverse superannuationadjustment referred to above, and due tocompliance with the new Australian AccountingStandard AASB 1028 ‘Employee Benefits’ whichincreased the value of employee entitlementsrecognised in the financial statements.

Financial overview

A small deficitof $2.998m

reflects asuccessful year:

increaseddemand for

services hasbeen managed

effectively

To open Financials Click Here

Documents

Legal Aid NSW Annual Report 2002-2003